Symphogears? Meet Synchrogears!
by HunterXKiller87
Summary: Well, we all know about the Symphogears, relics of the past which were powered by the songs of their chosen wielders. Wielders whom were compatible with them either naturally or artificially. But, what if there was... something else? Something aside from the Symphogears which had been long since dormant and were now beginning to return? Lets find out, shall we?
1. Chapter 1

**Symphogears? Meet the Synchrogears!**

The thing about this world, is that there was always, ALWAYS something going on behind the scenes. Whether one is just walking down the street of a town, village or city, up to sitting in an office room looking at documents. One may not always see it, but there are always things going on around them, things which they might not see as important or necessary, but they occur regardless. If one wants to make a comparison to it, think of it like a bustling beehive, every Bee inside of it always has a specific task in their minds, just like how the average person is mostly focused on how they will live their lives. Though, in a sense, that could be said to be the case for literally anything in this existence people call home. Whether that this lack of an uninteresting lifestyle is a good or a bad thing would be up to the individuals themselves, as in the end no matter what people say there was only one truth about the world: Good and Evil, they do not exist. Instead, there are only people and their ideals, the rules that they lived their entire lives by.

Colours are merely what people paint them as, nothing else.

"You're wrong. It's not the world that's messed up; it's those of us in it. Yes, some walk a path that leaves sorrow in their wake, but just like anyone, we can choose a different path altogether. We have a lot to learn, both your kind and mine. We need to stop fighting, and start talking. Because when it comes to the state of the world, you can't point your finger at just one person. We're all to blame."

"Acts of taking are equally evil. We, from the moment of birth, continue to take. Food, people that got involved with us, even our own flesh and blood. For as long as we live, we will continue to slaughter, kill, take. Life is to constantly sin. Life is evil itself. I am aware, I am evil... and so are you all. Now, come kill me. And I shall do the same!"

"You think you're the only ones who matter. You think you can put off death. But peace that made you foolish and thoughtless. If you kill someone, someone else will kill you... this hatred binds us together."

"People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define "reality". But what does it mean to be "correct" or "true"? Merely vague concepts ... their "reality" may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?""

"There's no such thing as perfect in this world. That may sound cliche, but its the truth. The average person admires perfection and seeks to obtain it. But what is the point of trying to achieve perfection? There is none. Nothing. Not a single thing. I spit on perfection! If something is perfect, then there is nothing left. There is no room for imagination. No place left for that person to gain additional knowledge or abilities. Do you know what that means? For scientists such as us, perfection only brings despair. It is our job to create things more wonderful than anything before them, but never to obtain perfection. A scientist must be a person who finds ecstasy while suffering from that antinomy."

"Everyone who searches for power, without exception, searches for battle. Do you fight in order to become more powerful? Or do you want more power so you can fight?"

The ability to form an opinion of something... this was a trait unique to humans themselves, there are few other beings on the planet capable of such a feat.

In large part, a society's image stems from its overall opinions – its political, religious, and ethical beliefs – and how much diversity it tolerates. For example, how do some areas develop images of being either liberal or conservative, and, in others, liberals and conservatives live side by side? As a team of researchers explains, one's individual opinions both influence and are influenced by our surroundings. By following a set of rules, the researchers have modeled the opinion formation process in societies where individuals' opinions are strongly influenced by others they interact with. The scientists found that, depending on two criteria – how strongly individuals are influenced by each other and how many connections individuals have – a society's overall state can exhibit either large segregated patches of consensus, or areas with closely intermingled opinions.

Ideals… That's what truly shaped people in the end…

No matter what anyone else says.

* * *

The light of the morning sun blazed brightly upon the futuristic city during this summer season. According to the time, the day had just begun, making it an early to middle morning for the city's residents, marking the beginning of their everyday routines. People left their homes for one reason or another, filling the streets like ants coming out of their holes as they each travelled to their own destinations. Some travelled to get to work on time, others travelled to the various schools located throughout the city, whilst others just wanted to spend their time leisurely by going to various shops, arcades, spas etc. As a result of this, the entire city looked to be bustling with rich, vibrant life from a bird's perspective, several flocks of said creatures fluttering over the many tall buildings.

"… Whoo, the heat today's especially intense… wonder if people are still on about that global warming thing…"

One such person stood by a zebra crossing, furrowing their brows with slight exhaustion whilst swiping a hand over their forehead to clean it of any sweat. Judging from the person's words, it seemed that the summer heat had been especially brutal on their flesh, causing the person to exude sweat from their forehead. The fact that there were so many people around him either on their phones, remaining quiet with their heads down or chatting away to one another like two siblings before going to war, didn't really help things. Though this wasn't something which bothered the person who'd made the comment, as the nearby traffic light switched from red to green to allow the people to cross over. The sounds of feet patting against the ground filled the person's ears which he made to follow suit, knowing that there wasn't much time to be doing anything else.

"Then again, its not really any of my concern, since I can hardly do anything about it solo. Now, if I were that Jin Sung Woo from Solo Levelling, that'd be a different story altogether, hehe…"

The person once again spoke to themselves, a chuckle escaping afterwards whilst they crossed the zebra crossing and ended up on the other side. The person then raised his right wrist close to his eyes whilst looking down, checking the black watch, which was attached to his wrist for the time, a thoughtful hum escaping his lips. "Whelp, looks like I have about 10 minutes before school starts, and at my current pace I should get there in 5… yeah, I'm good." The person remarked again. This person turned out to be a young male, at least 15 years of age although one might not be able to tell that about him from how… youthful he looked.

If one were to look at him, then they wouldn't assume him to be very much due to how plain he looked. What with his unkept black hair which reached the nape of his neck, with black thin rimmed glasses covering his greyish-looking eyes. The boy used his other hand to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose when he felt them having slid down, a habit he had developed since starting to wear them in public. The boy's facial features didn't look all that bad either and some thick eyelashes as well which his glasses hid, so it wasn't as if he looked anything close to ugly, either. He just looked like someone you wouldn't pay that much attention to, someone who didn't stand out in a crowd… something he didn't really mind all that much since he preferred it that way.

In terms of clothing, It wasn't anything out of the ordinary either, if anything it's the exact opposite. The guy wore a school uniform consisting of a black blazer which was closed, exposing only a small V section to show the white dress shirt underneath, a crimson coloured tie wrapping around his neck. The uniform had a single golden button on the cuffs of the blazer, giving it this smart and intellectual appeal to it, whilst it also sported a couple pins on its collar. For legwear, he wore the uniform's tanned pants with polished black shoes, whilst he carried a light brown handbag in his right hand. Around his neck, was a single black choker, which slightly showed pieces of what looked like a chain having been hidden within his clothes.

'Hmmm… Looks like the clearest path to school would be to cross into a side street, since these crowds are being a major pain in the butt…' he thought with a frown forming on his lips as he turned to walk down a different direction to the main crowd. If there was one thing he disliked in his routine, it would be having to deal with noisy crowds especially when he was in a hurry. Normally they were a source of discomfort, though nothing that the teen couldn't handle if he couldn't help it.

* * *

Whilst he walked down the street, he soon came to a smaller, narrower walkway, one which lead through a residential area if he wasn't mistaken. The teen smiled to himself at the sight, since he had come here more than a few times to get to school on time whenever he was in a hurry, his feet patting against the pavement beneath him as he strode through. The soft chirping of the birds and wildlife in what few trees grew around the neighbourhood filled his ears too, calming his agitated nerves and letting him exhale softly, his previous mood improving significantly. Well, then again going through this area was the quickest way for him to get to school, he didn't want to be late either otherwise the folks would grill his backside alive. It didn't help that he had slept in due to… reasons.

Not going to dwell on those though since he had other things to worry about…

Like this little situation he found here.

Upon turning a corner, the teen looked up from his previous staring at the pavement when his ears twitched upon picking up sounds of mocking laughter. Looking to the source, his eyes narrowed with a hostile glint shining into existence behind his glasses, especially since the sources turned out to be some guys in their mid-twenties dressed in punkish style clothing. They appeared to be gathered around something, and judging from the sniffles he picked up, it was likely a young child, all of them wearing these disgusting facial expressions which made someone who looked at them want to knock their freaking teeth out. Seeing this made the teen grit his teeth behind his blank facial expression, flames of similar emotion beginning to erupt within his eyes behind his glasses.

Well, I think we all know where this is going…

* * *

Moments later…

"You got a death wish pal? Nobody jumps one of my boys and walks away from it without some bones broken."

If there was one thing that these punks had expected out of today, it wasn't for someone to suddenly jump them by kicking one of them in the ball sack from behind hard enough to knock one of them out. That, well… it happened to them, causing each of them to turn to the source with looks of shock and outrage, whilst the ones they had been picking on (perhaps even extort for money too, they weren't too high on cash at the moment), a young boy and girl looked as well. Upon seeing the cause of the incident being nothing more than a high school kid judging by his apparel, and a weakling one at that with how slim his build looked, well one could just imagine how these thugs would have reacted.

Shame (not really) that the boy before them didn't really have much of a reaction to their leader's words. Instead, he just looked at them with a blank expression, like he were looking at a bunch of idiots or ants on the side of the road. The teen added to his disinterested demeanour by rubbing the side of his head, as if he were struggling to think up what to do in this situation, or perhaps sheer exasperation. Either way, it didn't sit well with the leader, judging by how increasing red from anger his face got.

"Oh, a silent type eh?"

Eventually the Leader couldn't take the disrespect from the kid anymore, and in a fit of rage he leapt forth towards him, fist cocked back for a punch. The Leader's lackeys all had smug, arrogant looking grins on their faces, each of them aware of how hot-blooded their leader tended to get as well as how their victims usually got afterwards. Some of them remained in the hospital, at least the male victims… the females they would have some fun with before beating them within an inch of their lives, even if they were preteens. No discrimination here on the streets after all.

POW!

Just as the guy's punch looked to be thrown towards the kid's face, said high schooler reacted instantly by raising his leg up and planting his foot into the guy's face. All the while keeping his disinterested expression on as he kicked the guy onto the ground and began stomping on the back of his head, causing his lackeys to switch from smug arrogance to shock, horror and fear instead.

"Crap! The boss is going down! He's being treated like a ragdoll or a cheap whore! We got to help him!"

"Are you crazy?!"

"No way I'm taking on that sicko!"

A few more stomps onto the scumbag's head later, the kid's façade of calmness slipped off his face as it got replaced ab an utterly LIVID expression instead. Holding up a trembling fist which sported a bulged vein, the kid began to speak to them in an aggressive, pissed off manner. "Now listen up, assholes, I'm going to ask a couple questions, and you WILL be answering them. Now, first question, who are the kids here?" His glasses-covered eyes swept across the fearful punks, before focusing on one of them. "You, the one in the middle, answer!" he yelled in a mannerism eerily reminiscent of a drill sergeant.

"Huh?" Upon hearing his words, each of the trembling punks shuddered and trembled at the sheer animosity and intensity rolling off the kid before them. They weren't just thugs, they had experience in intimidation methods as their leader had done so a few times in the past, but the intimidation they felt from this kid FAR surpassed anything like that. In fact, it almost felt… raw, primal and like that of an animal, a predator which hunted its prey with bloodthirst. The mentioned punk, now dumbfounded of being yelled at, pointed to himself whilst questioning in a dumbfounded voice. "Y-You talking to me or something?" he asked, but quickly did what was told to him thanks to the kid's glare intensifying like a little bitch. "I-I guess these are just some stupid brats who live in this place- "

POW!

"Correct!"

In a single instant, the kid closed the distance between the four of them as the guy finished speaking, delivering a straight kick to his face to knock him onto his back. He then got himself into a position where he could launch a roundhouse kick from the back, but instead he opted for a better solution. "Now, next question. If those are just 'brats' to you, what are you doing near them?"

"We-We were just trying to show our dominance in this territory, get some money for our gigs and-"

POW-POW-POW!

Several kicks got launched in their direction in a manner which made it look like the kid before them had multiple legs, knocking each of them flat on their asses after they impacted various parts of their body. "You punks seem like you catch on pretty quickly, props to you for being slightly more intelligent than dumb apes." The kid spoke lowly with a sinister edge to him… before he looked like a demon summoned out of hell as he barked at them. "NOW MOVE THOSE LAZY, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING ASSES OTHERWISE THE NEXT ONE'LL BE FOR YOUR BALLS!"

"GUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Panic filled their minds and utter terror dominated their very souls, stripping away the will to fight back from the punks. Including their leader, each of them quickly fled between their legs, some sporting some stains on their legwear in the crotch area as they fled the scene. Upon seeing them get out of his sight, the kid sighed to himself, his shoulders dropping as the tension left him. "Phew, that'd stop them from showing their ugly mugs around here again." He murmured. Another thing he didn't like, delinquents, not only did they only have strength from intimidation and numbers, but they just behaved like dumb primates. To him, they would have fit in better in the caveman era, cause at least their idiocy would have been expected of them.

Still, what he did today was reckless, and it could very well get him into deep trouble, not just with any allies these punks may have. Ever since a certain incident, he had been put on probation for an entire year, one with conditions attached to it. One of those conditions was the fact that he had to work a part time job as a means of 'reforming' him into a 'proper member of the hard-working society' we all know Japan is today. The sheer thought of this made him want to puke, but to his frustration ti wasn't like there was anything he could do about the subject. Should he go too far and his probation officer found out, then things may get a bit more... dicey, for him. Forget jail, he could go straight to juvie and, combined with the stain on his record, it would probably ruin his entire life. Well, more than it already was, but hey gotta think positive... somehow.

Thinking positive wasn't as easy as people make it out to be, especially in this day and age where people remained glued to their phones like drug addicts getting their fix, and those who DID think positive usually had reasons behind it. Reasons which... would be eventually revealed as kind of dark, sick and twisted. If one were to ask him if he truly thought there were good people, he'd probably agree to it. There existed few truly good people in the world, but there lay the problem: most of these people tended to end up living rather shitty lives compared to some of the worse members of humanity who use their own tactics to get far up the ladder in the business industry. Kindness may be a virtue, but it sure as hell didn't help you get your paycheck at the end of the month, only working and obedience did THAT for you.

Something which the teen knew for a fact...

Glancing at his watch again when he wondered what the time was, the kid noticed that he only had a few minutes left before the morning bell was about to ring. 'Whelp, I'm going to be late then…#SIGH# oh well, least I did my good deed for the day.' He thought to himself, making to turn to the two formerly harassed children. "You two alright?"

Upon hearing the teen ask them for their situation, both children (whom had been pretty much gobsmacked the entire time), blinked to themselves to snap their senses back into reality. "U-Um, yeah we're good mister!" the boy, whom looked to be the older of the two, responded quickly, not wanting to aggravate the teen who had saved them like those other guys did. "Th-Those guys were trying to take my little sister away, so I tried to stop them, but…" he tried to explain, before looking down at the ground in shame, his teeth clenching and fists tightening.

Seeing this, the older teen tilted his head in their direction, a slight smirk forming on his lips as his eyes adopted a pleasant expression. "That feeling your experiencing, that frustration?" he began to say, kneeling before them so they were of similar height. Wen he had begun speaking, the boy looked up at him, confused and curious as to what he was trying to tell him. "Don't forget it. Remember this feeling well and use it to become better. Do you know why older siblings are born first? Its so that they can provide protection and safety for their younger ones. Its your responsibility, alright? So, make sure to always be there for your sister, even if others disapprove." He told him, to which the boy stared at him in awe for a while before nodding resolutely. The resolve in his eyes made the teen smile as he stood up, lifting his school back (which had remained in his hand the whole time) onto his back. "Alright then, you two better head home now, your parents will be worried sick."

"Y-Yes mister!"

With their response give, the boy took his younger sister's hand and strode off down the streets, soon leaving his sight as well. The teen watched them go until they were gone, to which he gave a sigh once more. "Well, that went better than I had expected…" he muttered under his lips, before looking up to the skies above with a melancholic gaze. "Big siblings protecting their younger ones… that's what you told me back then, right big bro…?"

* * *

"…Late? That's not you Tai. You usually prompt…"

"Well, let's just say I had one of THOSE kinds of run-ins. Didn't get hurt or nothing, but I can safely assume they're going to come back for more."

"Ah…"

Sitting outside the main entrance of a tall school building eating some lunch, the black haired, glasses wearing teen answered the question of the student sitting beside him with slight exasperation and a slight foreboding in his tone after finishing off his carton of orange juice. His lunch consisted of a self-prepared bento box, which he had made himself the previous night which had all sorts of home-cooked foods put into it. Pretty standard, if he were honest, but then again, he wasn't someone who overly depended on others to solve his problems for him.

The last few hours had been… well, one could say eventful, to say the least. The teen had arrived at his school, an average one to be franks and its name wasn't really that important. However, just like he had expected after saving those kids, he had wound up late and thus got scolded by the homeroom teacher (even had the gall to call him by his full name Hageshī Tairitsu which meant intense conflict). It wasn't something he could have controlled, though, but when he tried to explain what had happened the teacher wouldn't have any of it. Lenience in this high school may as well not even exist, since it valued its public image as a well-off school quite highly, especially any sports teams competing in national tournaments. As a result, the teacher gave him a warning and told him to stay behind after homeroom, something which irritated the male but didn't say anything else about the subject. Of course, not like anyone would give a damn in this hellhole of a school…

Well, save for one saving grace, and one of his only true friends in this school, whom just so happened to be sitting beside him right now. The student, if one could call him that, looked more like a towering male giant than a teenager the same age as him, honestly. Not to mention how the guy looked positively jacked in the muscle department as if he were sculpted from a certain series about muscular macho men fighting against vampires. The teen had a tanned skin tone which hinted at an origin from a hot country, way hotter than Japan, with pronounced cheekbones and wavy brown hair with bangs that generally hung over his brown eyes. He wore the same school uniform as him, with the differences being that he had rings on his fingers, a piercing on his lower lip and some more on his ears. His schoolbag lay beside him on his left thigh, with the black-haired teens on his right thigh, whilst his hands clutched one of those ready meals one could purchase at a convenience store.

"Teach had the gall to use my full name, something I find annoying since it's a mouthful, Tai is much better. Still, it's not something I regret, never was one for leaving defenceless kids to scumbags like that." Tai remarked, remembering that incident well. Sometimes the law isn't that nice and punishes those who do good for the sake of maintaining order, something the teen had ample experience with and NOT just from the morning incident. It… wasn't something he liked to talk about openly, as he was still suffering under the effects of that decision till this day. Yet, even so he himself knew in his heart what he had done had been the right choice, even if the whole world said that it wasn't. "Speaking of woes, what about you Chad? I hear that some of the local bullies tried to threaten you again." He spoke, glancing over to his friend with a single eye.

Chad, or rather Yasutora Sado with the former being his nickname Tai had come up with, shrugged his shoulders in disinterest. "Its not a problem. They were just all talk…" he replied quietly, something which Tai nodded his head in acceptance at. It wasn't that surprising to him, but to anyone else who saw him and didn't know how he was, someone like Chad speaking in a soft, passive voice like a shy child wouldn't be what they'd expect from him. His appearance betrayed his actual nature, if one asked Tai anyways, though considering that the guy had foreign blood mixed in him, something he had learned shortly into their friendship which had lasted for a long time now. If anything, Tai felt like if it weren't for those traits he had, Chad might have become a hit with the ladies, though in the end he would rather Chad stay true to what he truly was in the end, since it wasn't right for ANYONE to decide that for him.

Still, people tended to pick fights with the large dude, thinking that he would be a dangerous threat to their everyday lives. However, upon them discovering how no matter what they did Chad never fought back, people had begun seeing him as a weakling, someone they could just topple over whenever they wished. As such, beatings became a regular thing for the large dude, although through them he didn't really get that injured instead. No, more like the ones beating him suffered from injuries they inflicted on themselves due to how jojo-like his body was. One of those times, according to some students whom Tai had overheard gossiping like a bunch of vultures fighting over some leftover meat, seemed to have happened today of all times. Whelp looked like he wasn't the only one having a troublesome day, then.

"Meh, they aren't that important, then. You sure you'll be able to make it to your job after school? Packing up packages for that delivery business seems quite demanding physical traits wise." Tai questioned after shrugging the incident off. Chad never seemed bothered by it, so he wouldn't either, plus if he REALLY got stressed out because of it, Tai'd do the bro thing and support him through it. He once heard a saying from one of his male classmates which, whilst crude like previously mentioned, summarized his friendship with Chad perfectly: 'bros before hoes'. Not something he'd like to describe girls with (they'd no sooner kick you in the balls like he did this morning or slap the ever-loving daylights out of you), but the pure sentiment made it worth it.

Upon hearing his question, Chad nodded with a small response escaping his lips. "Not a problem. It didn't hurt…" he replied, before looking back to him. "And you? Your job…" he questioned, gesturing to the food which Tai'd been eating for lunch. Although it was home cooked, it came from ingredients he'd gotten at his part time workplace, something he had been… required to do for his current lifestyle.

"Not too bad, and don't worry I can make it to my job just fine. Plus, I've got a day off today so I can do what I want till tomorrow." Tai replied, waving off Chad's concern, though that didn't mean he didn't appreciate his concern, nope exactly the opposite. To him, Chad could be a runner-up for best bro award, since he didn't have any friends other than him, Chad helped him as much as he could and stuck by him when others didn't, something which Tai would ALWAYS return the favour for. Like he'd mentioned, they were more than just friends, but bro's, even though the two of them weren't gay or anything like that. What was that word he'd once heard that one video a while back…? Oh yeah:

BROOOOOOOOMAAAAAAAANCE!

Shaking his head, another topic, this time much more influential, popped into his mind like a lightbulb being switched on. This caused Tai to look over to his friend fully, his serious look presenting the degree of the situation. "Speaking of jobs, the military's been sucking when it comes to the Noise, huh? What with those things being impervious to their firearms, or so I've heard." He remarked, getting a silent nod from Chad who understood his friend's opinion, for he too shared that opinion… with some questions of his own too. They were both referring to the recent news which got released to the public about another attack by something OTHER than humanity which had been a problem for a long time now:

The Noise.

These things no matter when and where one encounters them are bad news, as in REALLY bad news. These things were these slob-like, alien-looking motherfuckers which appear out of nowhere and attack anything human, once they do, they each dissolve into carbon along with their victims. The Noise appear in dozens of different shapes and sizes, though in general there wasn't that much known about them other than their tendency to attack humans, the fact that the laws of physics don't apply to them making normal weapons pretty much dog shit to them, and that there's generally little known about them. According to some internet research Tai had done in his free time, thirteen years ago the Governments of the nations recognized them officially as 'special disasters', with each of them working on their own terms to research into them to gain a better understanding of their workings. Sadly, things hadn't been so great on that front, which results in most of the Noise appearances causing many innocent lives to be snuffed out like candles. Of course, the Public is made generally unaware of the true scale behind these things in order to prevent mass panic, but those who DO survive don't really talk about their experiences, whether they were traumatized (often) or something else, who could say?

Though, there were other reasons why the Noise didn't cause people to go onto full-blown panic mode whenever they were brought up, and that had to do with the fact that A: they could self-destruct after some time, so military usually try to evacuate civilians to shelters built under the city whilst they held the Noise back, and B: idols were a thing in this city, which housed the Lydian Private Musical Academy, one of the more well-off schools compared to the one he and Chad attended. They say that most of the student body there were females who wanted to get into the music industry or had a talent for it, basically every hormonal pervert's wet dream. Speaking of Idols… "Yeah well, those two Idols, I think they were called 'Zwei Wing' are doing a decent job of keeping people's spirits up…" Tai mused thoughtfully, putting an index finger on his chin. "Apparently those guys came onto the scene around 5 years ago, looking back on it, and they've become quite popular ever since. Just from a merchandise point of view, their sales are like nearly half of America's Marvel franchise." Tai remarked further, nodding his head when weighing the calculations in his mind.

"People love idols… what about you…?" Chad questioned, to which Tai looked at him curiously. Knowing his friend well, he interpreted that look to silently request him to elaborate, something he did after collecting his thoughts. It wasn't often that he talked, and when he did it was always in a calm, quiet voice, but when he hung with Tai, he found it much easier to talk to him thanks to their shared experiences. "Most guys I see… like idols due to the… outfits they wear, alongside their songs… but I've never heard of your opinion on them. What do you think of them?"

Taking a moment to hum, Tai responded significantly quicker than Chad's earlier response. "I'd say that they perform one big purpose, one which many of the populace don't seem to acknowledge as much." Tai replied, igniting the curiosity of his friend. So, he continued whilst heaving a sigh and looking up at the skies. He remembered watching a video of one of Zwei Wing's concerts online, and though he didn't get the same experience as seeing them, it was enough for him to make an accurate assumption. "An idol may be someone who sings some song they have created, maybe even do a little dance sequence to go along with it, but the bigger picture here is something I want to bring more attention to. An idol is… an idol is a communicator. If music helps convey meaning and messages through words in a way people can understand, then idols are the communicators which allow their music to reach their audiences. They bring people together in order to listen to what these Idols say in their songs, and if you ask me, that is both a very beautiful feat humanity has pulled, and yet also deadly. Music and Idols can bring people together, yet it can also divide them, though It all depends on the songs and what they are meant to convey in all honesty."

If he were honest, then Tai would say that the reasons why most people liked idols weren't as important as the bigger picture in his mind, to the point where he kind of felt annoyed at others who don't see it. They only see idols in a narrow-minded, primitive way, like they were objects for entertainment. That statement could be taken in SO many ways, but nonetheless it can be considered true. There WERE some…. Unique individuals like that in the world after all, some of them holding positions of power too. You just can't tell people like that apart these days. Of course, Tai wouldn't say he didn't get those people, since idols can sing some great and interesting songs, which was why here existed people on the internet who tried to decipher the meanings behind different songs.

The fact they each wear exotic, beautiful outfits wasn't as important to him, though he guessed that served the purpose of keeping the attention of the audience.

* * *

By the time school ended, Tai and Chad separated to go their respective ways. The former had decided to head back home whilst the latter had to go for his shift at his part-time job, something which Tai had understood since the dude was a hard worker to the core. As for himself, he… didn't have that much to do right now, his homework assignments had been completed a few nights ago, his grades were average, so nobody came to deal with him on that front, so he pretty much had the day to himself. Not to mention he had a curfew imposed on him which limited the time he could spend outside, too, something he didn't necessarily appreciate but Tai didn't have a choice on that one. So, what could he do in this time then….?

That question bothered him all the way back to his house, a small single-story house at the opposite side of the city. He had to get there by going through a Train Station like the Metro he had heard the British used in their home country. Which was how he had come to possess a travel pass which, as long he had the cash to spend every 4 weeks, could let him access all the stations and buses for free. Afterwards, Tai had to walk the rest of the way, and by doing so he had a few run-ins with some gangsters, not connected to the ones from this morning but he took care of them easily enough. Unlike Chad, Tai himself had no problem fighting back against those who tried to take from him, he wasn't as kind as that guy as one might be able to tell. People may call what Chad did naïve; those people could just go fuck themselves as far as he was concerned.

By the time that he arrived back in his house, though, Tai had already figured out his game plan for the rest of the day. His house, as stated, looked to be one with one floor with everything essential one might need: a living room, bathroom, kitchen (attached to the living room), a bedroom with one bed and a shower room. The kitchen and living room shared one space to the house's left side when one entered, with the bathroom being at the very back of the corridor connecting the rooms together. The bedroom was located at the back-right section, whilst the bathroom was directly opposite it, each section connected to the corridor by a door. On the outside, the apartment had a tanned colour with a small yard and a small dark brown roof.

Oh yeah, game plan.

Well, it wasn't like he was surprised by his current situation, since Tai had experienced this whilst living alone. Times when he didn't have anything to do and as such, a sense of emptiness would fill him inside. People who didn't live alone wouldn't understand the feeling, and even then, it would happen rarely due to the chaotic nature of adult life, but when it did it usually caught people off guard. Since he had prepared some spaghetti bolognaise the night before, in case he would be late to school the following day (which he had been), Tai didn't have to worry about dinner, so all he had to worry about would be entertainment. He had a few consoles, some computer and others handheld, so he could pick from the games he had from them or he could just surf the web on his Laptop.

As such, he decided in the end to spend the time he didn't spend eating surfing the web on his laptop after changing out of his uniform into a pair of comfy sweatpants. Tai, like a lot of guys his age and even adults, liked to be shirtless within his own home, plus he wasn't exactly unfit either since in his living room he had a small amount of exercise equipment he would use in the morning. In the end, Tai spent the rest of his time this way, listening to music whilst working on his… hobbies, something which he REFUSED to let anyone else know about until the day he died, not even Chad would know this. If someone were to find out what he did as a hobby, whilst it wasn't anything criminal, he'd likely die of embarrassment if anyone found it out.

* * *

That night, Tai lay on his bed over the covers, within his bedroom. Like most of his house, the bedroom had little in it, with there being a bed beside a window at the back, a wardrobe build into the wall opposite the bed side, a desk opposite the bed's bottom, and a small set of draws directly beside it which had a small lamp. Said lamp currently kept being used as the sole source of light in the room, since the light would be cheaper on the electric bill. He currently stared up at the ceiling, a hand on his bare abdomen with the other resting its back on his forehead.

'Hmph… another day of boring uneventfulness gone…' The teen thought to himself, a soft exhale escaping his nose. Annoyance filled his mind as he closed his eyes, letting his head practically sink into the pillows behind it as if he were sinking into the ocean itself, letting it take away the presences of the problems currently plaguing him. 'Only one more year till the probation ends and I can move on with my life…' he thought, his lips twisting into an ugly scowl as, just by the word probation, memories he NEVER wanted to think about right now filled his mind:

A woman screaming.

A man shouting.

A surge of anger, actions taken without hesitation.

Police Sirens.

A couple seconds later Tai shot his eyes open and a light gasp escaped his lips, causing him to bounce somewhat on his bed. His breathing became uneven as a light bead of sweat formed over his forehead. 'Again… damnit, that bastard must be living like a dream right now, probably has even forgotten what he has done to me…' the teen thought as hot fury burned within his eyes, causing him to quickly snuff it all out, banishing the flames of anger before adopting a depressed expression instead. 'No matter how much you want to, Tai, you can't do anything about it now. Guy's too powerful, and nobody will believe you anyways. Chad was an exception cause the guy's much better than me…'

It was quite often that he thought things like this, things relating to the past. When one lives alone and had only their thoughts for company, they tended to drift off down memory lane more often than not, and Tai himself wasn't any exception to this trend. Its been seen and done in literature and to an extent the entire entertainment industry, so much so that it could be considered a cliché at this point. However, to Tai he couldn't help but sink into the dark abyss that was his mind, the pool of darkness which he dwelled in to escape the madness that was his life. If anyone were to describe his background, they would consider it like struggling to ascend up a rocky treacherous mountain, there had been so many times where he had stumbled, fell and hit rock bottom, so many times when he had been beaten down by those around him. However, those times had been exactly how he had wound up where he was today, especially that ONE time which completely screwed him over, although there wasn't anything he could do to remedy that situation. Wasn't like he regretted it though.

Nope, not one bit... plus, there was always something he held on to in those times, something which reminded him of why he had gotten so far in life.

Upon thinking about that, Tai's eyes then shifted to his draws set, where he spotted an item he hid under his uniform from view. The item involved looked like a necklace, one attached to a chain with its end being a black jewel with a red centre. Grasping it, Tai drew it to his chest, a soft smile slowly spreading onto his face. No matter what time or place he had it, the moment he focused on this necklace he always felt a sense of relief, his troubles being put at ease. This necklace, although bland, to him it was more priceless than the most expansive jewellery. If he were to try and weigh its worth to him, then he'd fail epically as there was next to NOTHING which it could compare to, it just had THAT much value to him... not just money wise, but emotional and symbolic attachment too. His eyes gradually began to close, his last thoughts before falling into slumber being the following. 'Mom… big bro… I'm sure I did the right thing… but, do you guys agree…? I wonder…'

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Alright guys, here's a new fanfic I decided to write, and if your seeing this posted on the Symphogear section then I've finished my OEG side story. I have been getting into Symphogear for a while now, having watched the first three seasons by recommendation by my fellow writer King Carlos. For a while I've been focusing on OEG, to the point where my imagination has been slowing down, so I decided to take a crack at another section on fanfiction as a means to refresh myself. There ARE going to be some similarities to OEG here, most of them coming from the whole concepts department. Original power systems, original characters (some inspired by anime ones like Chad from Bleach who to me is bro material), and the like. I'm going to try and do some good romance, maybe Tai'd gain a small harem but if I make more male OC's I might have them have some pairings of their own, for example Chad would probably go with Miku or something. There'll also be some crossover elements from different series, so if you can spot any let me know, **

**Now I know that this isn't something which has been attempted yet on the Symphogear fanfiction section, a story with such a slow start like this. This approach to writing a fanfiction here runs the risk of being boring, but I chose this approach EXACTLY because of this reason. I feel like this approach succeeds on doing something I like to do with my fanfictions: making my characters seem like actual people, with thoughts feelings and opinions outside of their roles. Examples include the idol talk between Tai and Chad. humanizing characters like this is interesting to me, and I'd like to keep at it cause I feel it makes them easier to relate to. This is mainly meant to establish the introduction of Tai and his best bro Chad as characters, something I don't see a lot of happening in anime and Manga these days, entire chapters/episodes dedicated to these characters introductions in such a way. So, I'll try to keep the pacing slow and enjoyable, possibly explore some avenues the main series doesn't but I'll try to do my best regardless. **

**Hope you all enjoy this and let me know what you think. **


	2. Chapter 2 - A new Schedule Addition

**Chapter 2 – A New Schedule Addition**

Once again, another attack had happened.

Deep beneath the school of Lydian private musical academy in the night, in an underground control room, one man thought this whilst he, alongside a bunch of other men and women in militia-style uniforms, viewed a series of monitors showing signs of a destructive aftermath. Some of them even showed two females shrouded in smoke from recent explosions, concealing their features although the people in the control room didn't fret. They knew exactly who those ladies were even if their forms remained concealed. In fact, it resembled their need to keep their identities a secret from the world at large, for the sake of their normal lives.

The man himself, aside from them, stood at the centre of the control room with his arms crossed, eyeing the various monitors with an intense gaze behind him. The man looked to be around his middle ages, with chiselled facial features which implied him having trained extensively in some form of martial discipline. His eyes shone with their golden colour, matched only by the stern look which assisted them in showcasing the amount of experience they hid underneath. The man's hair had been styled into a spiky one, with a fierce crimson colour to match, enhanced by his matching goatee. The man currently wore a ruby red dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just above his elbows, showing the muscular arms of his bulky physique. This shirt got accompanied by a pink tie with its end tucked into the left breast pocket of his shirt, wrapping around his neck and neatly tucked away beneath his shirt's collar. For his footwear, the man wore some light beige slacks tied around his waist with a black leather belt and some black and blue athletic shoes.

Not someone one would see it wise to tussle with on the streets.

Right now, the man found himself exhaling a little whilst closing his eyes, some of the tension he felt inside being released while doing so at the sight of the most recent event coming to pass. However, despite the seemingly joyous occasion that took place in front of him, it wasn't like he could be any happier about it, unlike normal circumstances where he likely would have be in a happier mood. 'Another attack… this is the 50th one this month…' the man thought, worry starting to blossom within his chest like a new-born flower at the height of its growth. Though, nobody would blame him since his worries were shared between the rest of the men and women under his command. Today marked the 50th attack by the nigh extra-terrestrial threat known as the Noise this month, and their rate of appearances seemed to just be climbing higher. In the past, their appearances weren't NEARLY as frequent or numerous, just the occasional appearance so they could have easily handled them like any kind of routine. However, in recent times things relating to them seemed to have reached a complete overhaul. At this point, the man didn't doubt the possibility of there being more than a couple dozen attacks each week, which could potentially exhaust their resources as well as the girls they had sent out to deal with them, something he dreaded for multiple reasons. 'If things keep going like this, who knows what the higher ups will make us do next, they might start getting desperate… especially father…' the man thought whilst his fists tightened within the confines of his arms.

"Still thinking so hard, eh boss?"

"?"

Just then, the man blinked when he heard someone speak to him, interrupting his thought process although he didn't showcase any displeasure at the instance. If anything, he felt grateful towards the one who broke him from his musings, as thinking so hard about it wouldn't do him any sort of good. Turning to the source of the speaker, the man saw a woman standing beside him, a slightly mischievous yet well-meaning smile forming over her features. She looked to be a tall woman in her early to mid-twenties, a stark contrast to the middle-aged man she stood before, with long hime-cut brown hair done up into a beehive shaped dome with a purple butterfly clip on the left side. She has purple eyes and wears glasses with red frames with yellow tinted lens. Much unlike the rest of the people in the Control Room, this woman lacked the military uniform that the others wore, instead she wore something else instead: a loose, short-sleeved light-green shirt with a buckle belt and a tight black miniskirt. She wore on her feet a pair of open-top pink shoes with slight heels and butterfly shaped straps. "Ryouko…"

The man spoke one word, acknowledging her presence with a level tone, but behind his gaze there lay a hint of surprise at her entrance. Even if he held gratitude towards her for breaking him from his depressing thoughts, the man still didn't expect to see her here. woman, called Ryouko by the man who seemed to be her boss, smiled even more at him whilst turning to the monitors showing the destruction, a knowing look in her eyes. "Even in these times, you continue to be a buzzkill, Genjuro. The girls are now returning home from their latest mission. They're aware of the growing dangers the Noise are presenting us, so showing them some happiness will do them a lot of good, you know?" she commented, her eyes glistening behind her glasses. Her smile remained present, but it then became increasingly more strained when she continued onwards. "Lord knows those kids can use the pickup right now, especially Tsubasa…"

Earing those words, the man called Genjuro, Genjuro Kazanari to be more precise, couldn't help but nod slightly in agreement, a concerned frown on his lips when he thought about her. Tsubasa, one of the youngest female operatives whom they had sent out to take on the Noise in their most recent attack. Although able to use their sole available weapon against the Noise, the Symphogear at a young age, Tsubasa's personality at present hardly served the ideal image of a warrior, a protector. To be blunt, she was a shy young girl, not even 18 but only 15, currently, whom had a shell around her which only recently got to being broken thanks to her sole best friend. Something she never truly had since young. Since she came from the Kazanari family whom have been responsible for protecting Japan since ancient times, this didn't suit their image. At least, that's what most of that family thought, but to him, he only worried about his niece. He could only hope things could get better for her, so she didn't have to lose herself to the pressure constantly layering itself onto her shoulders.

At least being an idol duo with her sole friend Kanade, becoming the popular singing duet Zwei Wing, was a good way for her to release her emotions so she didn't one day lose her mind from all the strength. Although, in his eyes this kind of support could also turn out to be a double-edged sword in its own way, something he hoped would never occur since it could potentially serve as the last straw for his niece.

"One can only hope, Ryouko…" Genjuro responded eventually, causing his female colleague to smirk in amusement at the older man. The kind of smirk that a big sister would give to her naughty younger sibling, an ironic contrast considering the two's age difference. Though, nobody really complained about it since the two of them had been known to get like this quite often, more so with the recent uprising of Noise attacks. It almost seemed like the woman helped Genjuro alleviate the stress on his shoulders as Division 2's Commander, a sight which they had long since grown used to. There had even been some gossip throughout the female members of the group on whether or not the two of them were in the couple zone, gossip which remained as such unfortunately for them, but not so much for the majority of the male workers here whom wanted a chance at her. What, Ryouko did have a strong attraction about her, even a blind fool would be stupid enough not to notice this, so it stood to reason that a fair amount of people had their eyes on her. In any case, the man didn't take long to address her once again, and this time the topic caused even Ryouko to lose her previous mischievous and sly persona. "And, what of THEM…? Any progress…?"

Ryouko, whose lips twisted into a frustrated frown, could only shake her head negatively. "Unfortunately, we failed again. The last few attempts to activate any of THEM turned out to be completely in vain. Seriously!" the woman then stretched her arms up above her head, and she did NOT miss the slight glances a couple eyes fell onto her when she did. "Its like those things are just gluttons for phonic gain, cause no matter how much we try and funnel into them, they just don't wake up! Not even the last few idol concerts were able to gather enough for them." Ryouko explained, glancing down at the floor with a look similar to an annoyed mother about to scold her children for doing something naughty. "Geez, those THINGS…"

A sigh escaped Genjuro's lips at the report, something which he had honestly expected at this point, with any and all hope for something to change on that front having vanished from his mind thanks to all these failed attempts. He could recall just when they had been found due to the… weirdness surrounding them, that being how 25 years ago humanity had once found a set of Relics, items from the past which served as a means to create the weapons known as Symphogears and had brought them to Japan for study. During the trip, several of the transport staff had reported some… odd behaviour from the architects whom brought it into their custody, some of them behaved like drunkards having had way too much alcohol in their system, whilst others looked like they were about to explode with anger on anything around them. At the time, the top brass had been rather excited, due to the possibility of another Anti-Noise weapon being found.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as well as they had hoped, for these Relics proved themselves completely unable to activate for no matter how much energy they amassed, even enough to compare to multiple live concerts from multiple popular idols, was enough to generate power for them. As a result, they mostly just sat deep within the Abyss to gather dust from lack of use. As of recent times the higher ups have been clamouring for additional measures to use against the Noise, especially with the ever-increasing sightings of them since the casualties behind each attack were gradually getting higher. As a result, the previously forgotten Synchrogears got brought back into question, with attempts to figure out how they worked being made once more. So far though, they hadn't born any fruit, no matter how much Phonic Gain would be sent into them as none of them showed ANY signs of reactions to it. At this point, Genjuro feared they may NEVER be able to utilize them in battle against their enemies, something which began to become more and more possible with each attempt.

Another sigh escaped his lips at this.

Sometimes, he wondered how Ryouko got her ever-optimistic outlook from.

* * *

In no time at all, morning soon came to greet the sleeping Tai, who lay on his right side with his hands crossed together in front of his face, eyes closed with a soft slumbering expression on his features. Soft sounds escaped his lips in a calming, serene manner to create an image which could cause even the tensest of individuals to reach a serene calmness, one which would wash their troubles away like running water finally spilling out of a tap. The rising and falling of his chest accompanied these motions, only adding to the sweet and tranquil scene playing out around him, but unfortunately like all things nothing could ever truly last forever. This became proven when the annoying thing known as the morning sun started rising up in the skies from the east, illuminating everything in sight.

Morning rays built up from the closed blinds, soon illuminating the sleeping Tai's features which caused said features to start contorting in a discomforting fashion. Matching groans started escaping the young boy's lips as he shuffled about, lying on his opposite side to try and escape the blinding light rays. "Mmmmm… lemme sleep more, sun…" he muttered drowsily, not completely awake but not completely asleep like he wanted either. If there was anything that could be said about him, then it would be that Tai himself did NOT like getting up so early in the morning. It was alright if it were a School day, but it was the weekend right now according to his mental calculations yesterday, and he only had his job shift in the afternoon so he SHOULD be able to have a nice lie in this morning.

Sadly, this wasn't going to be, as his actions only succeeded in moving the sun's rays away from his facial features, as they still burned against the back of his head. As a result, Tai groaned slightly louder as his eyes shut themselves tighter, scrunching up his facial features before they began to open up bit by bit. By the time he fully opened them, his vision took a moment to clear up, and when it did, the black-haired teen sighed as he gave up his fruitless quest to remain in the land of the blissfully asleep. 'Whelp looks like morning's here… might as well get up and see what I can do to pass the time. My probation officer shouldn't be coming today, and I made sure to fill in my daily report of my activities yesterday for them…' the teen thought whilst sitting up straight, placing a hand on his mouth to stifle a yawn whilst stretching his arms upwards towards the ceiling. Strained groans escaped him whilst he did this, before they got replaced by relieved sighs from the stress taken out of his limbs, prompting him to wet his lips with his tongue as he threw his legs over onto the beside to rise up onto a standing position. 'Now that I think about it, maybe getting into a fight with those punks wasn't one of my better ideas…'

Once he got his fat ass (not really, just an exaggeration on his part) out of bed and glanced over to his wardrobe with narrowed eyes whilst reaching for his necklace and putting it on. 'Well, I'm not sure on my plans for the day, so I'll hold off on changing clothes for now…' he thought, turning his head away from it in order to leave for the shower room. In there, the teen took off his sweatpants to get into the shower, quickly starting his daily routine of scrubbing himself down with some soap, applying some hair shampoo to his messy black hair. Tai never bothered trying to tame the unruly mess that was his hair since he had been younger, having opted to just let it be as unruly as it wanted, one of the few freedoms that he enjoyed currently.

As he showered himself in hot water, the teen looked upwards as his eyes glazed over, a sign of him losing himself in thought. Now that it was the weekend, Tai didn't have much to do until the afternoon where he would have to go to his workplace for his shift, which would take the majority of the afternoon away from him. 'Chad's not available on the weekends since he usually goes to the Gym for his training…' the male thought to himself, something his best bro wanted to do in the future was become a champion boxer, a sportsman who belonged in the ring. It had been one of his life goals which Chad had told him about he had been making since he had been a child, attributing it to his grandfather whom had once been a champion boxer in his day as well. To him, the black-haired teen could only chuckle at the images of him practically strong-arming his competition into throwing the battle with just his build alone. 'Chad may not try to be so, but his image is similar to a delinquent…' Tai thought, before his eyes narrowed into a disgusted look. 'Freaking judgemental bastards. Guy as good as him deserves so much more than what he gets…'

After a moment or two, Tai finished showering and emerged from it, a towel around his waist which fell to his ankles, showcasing the slight build that he sported. He had another one over his head as he cleaned off the leftover suds in his messy black hair, only a single closed eye being seen from within the rapidly shuffling towel. Finishing that off, Tai put the towel in the washing basket he had in the shower room alongside his sweatpants, before spending the rest of his routine brushing his teeth and applying some light aftershave to himself. He then left the shower room and went towards his Wardrobe, opening it slightly and reaching inside for an extra pair of baggy jogging bottoms, putting them on with some boxer shorts beneath them. 'Phew, now that my routine is done for the day…' Tai began in his mind, stretching his arms and legs once more with some satisfied sounds escaping him all the while. 'Now, how should I start my morning…? Some breakfast sounds good, some simple eggs and toast will do there since I usually eat light in the mornings, but afterwards? Hmm, not sure, maybe I'll just surf the web and see what's new there.' The teen conclude in his mind, nodding to himself before heading out of his Bedroom and into the Living room.

* * *

Later, Tai had finished washing the dishes after he had finished making and eating breakfast for the day. He properly placed the dishes back where he'd gotten them from, all before moving into his Living Room, where he proceeded to sit down on one of the sofas there. If one wanted to imagine the living arrangements of this particular room, then the living room would be a square shaped one with two two-seat sofas aligned in an 'r' shape, a cube-shaped table before them and a large TV seated in the corner opposite the sofas. The floor itself was that of a traditional Japanese house, with the walls and ceilings being coloured in plain yellow paint.

Right now, with nothing else better to do, the black-haired teen finally decided to do something, 'Since playing on my laptop isn't as appealing as it did feel yesterday, TV's a no-go since it'll likely be about that Noise attack which I read about online, I guess there's only one thing I can do to pass the time… I'm so glad nobody knows about this.' The teen thought whilst grimacing, a light bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. Standing up from his spot on the sofa, the male kneeled beside the table then reached beneath it, his right hand feeling around for the item he sought. It didn't take him long, a couple seconds, until he finally found it, causing an excited smile not unlike one a toddler would make to spread across his face, a matching light igniting within his eyes. 'There you are! I KNEW I'd put you down there the last time…' Tai thought, pulling out the item in question: an Acoustic Guitar. Now, don't get him wrong, but Tai had ZERO confidence in his singing abilities. The male may not be a good singer, but he wasn't really a bad one either in his mind anyways. To him, if he were to try singing in front of a crowd like those Idols do, then they'd burst their ear drums in an instant and probably die from the blood loss, that was how bad he felt his singing was. If he'd applied for singing at Lydian academy, he'd get a big fat F in his opinion.

In fact, It was this lack of confidence which made it so that he liked to sing songs on his lonesome, well, more like cover songs of actual ones that others had made. There were so many talented artists out there whom were so much better than him, to the point where he always felt inferior to them whenever he thought of showing others this… embarrassing past time of his. He didn't do anything which would be seen as criminal in the eyes of the law with these covers, he simply practiced and sung just for the heck of it. When someone like him lived alone and didn't have anybody to talk to, singing turned out to be a good past time to help the day proceed quicker, something he had taken to heart one time when he lost himself in singing so much that he had been able to miss an entire afternoon's worth of time. With the Guitar in both hands across his lap, Tai practice strummed a few of its strings and began to sing a song which kind of felt… well, personal to him, yeah that was the best way to describe it:

_Who am I?_

_Am I not unique?_

_Maybe I'm not here_

_At all_

_Look, the fakers_

_Blinding us with lies_

_The breakers of us all_

_Oh, it's useless_

_What could it mean that we're here?_

_Can we make a difference?_

_If we don't break out of here?_

_Wake up, get up, get out there_

_Raise your voice against liars_

_Feed your anger like fire_

_Why does nobody want change?_

_Just imagine you're out there_

_Swatting lies in the makin'_

_Can't move fast without breakin'_

_If you hold on life won't change_

_The fakers, are all sick at heart_

_Their faces hiding their fear_

_They look down on, all the rest of us_

_Like they're some special breed_

_Who's the high lord..._

_Who thinks he's better than us?_

_Ain't it a crime that, is there a mission for us?_

_Who is that high lord..._

_Who'd kill a million of us?_

_And as the bell tolls..._

_Is there no remission for us?_

_Wake up, get up, get out there_

_There's more to life than their way_

_If you live you cannot stay_

_Why does nobody want change?_

_Let your voices ring out, yeah_

_Take the mask off and be free_

_Find yourself in the debris_

_If you hold on life won't change_

_Wake up, get up, get out there_

_Raise your voice against liars_

_Feed your anger like fire_

_Why does nobody want change?_

_Just imagine you're out there_

_Swatting lies in the makin'_

_Can't move fast without breakin'_

_If you hold on life won't change_

Throughout the whole song, Tai had kept his eyes closed, having closed them at the very beginning to better immerse himself into the music, practically leaving the world of mortal behind to assimilate into the world of sweet sound. It was a beautiful world in his eyes, a world in which he didn't have to worry about any mortal concerns, where he could just forget about his problems and just be who he truly wanted to be. By the time that he finished singing and allowed the sounds from his guitar to fade, Tai opened his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. 'Wow, that definitely lifted a load off my chest…' the male thought, chuckling with a little more spirit added into it. Despite him having poor confidence in his singing ability, the teen really enjoyed it for he saw it as a great form of expression, a way to unleash the pent-up emotions built-up inside of him into his surroundings so he didn't go insane from it all. He had investigated something similar to that actually once upon a shred of curiosity, regarding the concept of keeping everything on the inside… and just how much of a bad idea that truly turned out to be.

If one puts a lid over something like let's say a boiling pot, eventually that pot along with its contents would rise to the top and spill over, something which is also apparent when cooking with boiling water and it spills out of the pan when there's too much in it. Human emotions weren't any different in this regard. If one were to push their feelings down and down to try to avoid them, then they'll inevitably erupt in a most spectacular, yet dangerous, fashion. This here, was one of the main reasons why some people sometimes refuse to tap into their true feelings, apparently people can be over-rational, something which Tai himself could agree on since he'd seen it more than a few times himself when observing those around him to better hone his observation skills. This was largely because people generally operate under the assumption that the alternative was someone who would be seen as as crybaby all the time, is incredibly angry and erratic, and can't control themselves. Though if one asked Tai, then he'd say that it's a part of a vicious cycle which can inevitably end up ruining a person, which largely contributed why he liked idols in the way that he did. An Idol helps people communicate their feelings through song, and its quite an underappreciated thing if one asked his opinion, as most simply like the idols themselves and not the songs that they sing.

This was why Tai had the hobby of singing songs which conveyed what he felt deep inside, albeit when he was alone. Call it a man's pride, but he didn't want people to know that he sung, mostly due to the embarrassment and humiliation it would cause him to feel. One could say he had some form of stage fright, but if anyone brought that up to his face then he'd deck them in the nose. No way would he have something so humiliating! In a way, he too bottled up his emotions like many others, but in his case, he merely had an outlet for them that he exercised within the solitude that he'd come to appreciate.

'Well, that was something, now how much time do I have before work…' That thought soon passed through the teen's mind, and when he checked his watch Tai noticed that it wasn't even lunch time yet, something which caused him to groan internally. 'Really? Not even lunch time yet… Oh well, I guess a stroll wouldn't hurt me. As long as I stay near some public areas and record everything in my diary, my probation officer won't complain…' the male thought with mild irritation. Confirming this to be his next caution of action done, Tai the went back into his bedroom to gather the clothes he'd need for a stroll, soon choosing a getup from within his Wardrobe before heading outside and locking the door behind him. Sometimes he'd often worry if he forgot about locking it, only to double back and realize how stupid he was when seeing the locked door before him.

What, doesn't everyone have stupid moments?

* * *

Later, Tai walked through the main district of the city, which like he had suspected was packed FULL of people. It was getting close to the lunch hour after all, so he figured a lot of people would be going out for something to eat, especially on a warm day like this one. He wasn't so sure about the seasons right now, but he bet that it was either early or mid-spring, due to remembering how it had not long ago been Christmas… not something he wanted to remember by the way.

His new getup could be described as casual, yet handsome at the same time, as whilst he wasn't too handsome like you'd see men in otome games, he wasn't too bad looking either. His eyes remained concealed by his black polarized sunglasses, that being the only facial accessory he currently donned. As for the rest of his casual outfit, Tai donned an open white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up over a black long-sleeved t-shirt. For his legwear, he wore a pair of dark blue jeans with a black leather belt wrapped around the waist, a couple chains hanging off his sides by the pockets and brown shoes. Tai liked to think of himself as someone with SOME sort of fashion sense, but then again who wouldn't at this day and age? Especially when people tend to judge you in their minds for even the tiniest of faults.

Looking around the city whilst he walked along the sidewalk next to the street road, Tai eyed the various advertisements on the billboards, each one showing some kind of product off with some kind of skit to go along with them, something which Tai rolled his eyes at whilst also scowling occasionally when seeing some billboards showing off the news of the recent Noise attacks. 'Tch, people just LOVE their drama, don't they… glad I don't watch the news on TV, I'd likely become even more pessimistic than I really am…' the male thought to himself, refusing the urge to snort visibly as that would make people look at him weirdly.

Whilst he walked around doing literally fuck all, his hands in his pockets whilst he kept his head down like everybody else, the teen began to wonder more about things. Things which many would see as random but to him he focused on them. He began to wonder about the Noise, why they worked the way they did, how they came to be, and the purpose that they were for. The general consensus of the public was that they were just mindless beasts randomly popping up and killing themselves by going full kamikaze on innocent civilians… even if the term 'innocent' is a loose one in this corrupt, twisted society. Tai also began to wonder about why the Noise haven't just shown up in HUGE armies, as in huge enough to overrun the entirety of Japan, things like this tended to come up in his head a lot, since Tai wasn't someone with a whole lot of friends, so he usually ended up taking to himself.

'… Hm… strange, that child isn't moving… huh?'

His thought process then stopped however, when a phenomenon gradually started to show itself to him, making him eventually come to a complete stop. Looking upwards towards a young child, a girl no older than 12 he'd say, he noticed that she seemed to be… well, for lack of a better word, frozen (no not that kid's movie, though the songs were pretty catchy, plus he heard there was a sequel in the works) in space. As in, she looked to be frozen in the middle of a jump next to her mother, whom she he'd the hand of and seemed to suffer from the same condition as her daughter. This caused the teen to reel back, a surprised gasp escaping his lips as he held his arms out to the side, looking completely befuddled at what he saw before him. "What the, hey why aren't you…?" he tried to say, before something caught his attention out the corners of his peripheral vision…

That being that these two weren't alone in the whole space frozen department.

All around him, every shred of activity that had once been taking place, filling the air with rich and vibrant life… had all just stopped. People, objects being tossed in the air, his watch now that he thought about it and looked it up, everything had just stopped like time had just abandoned them after so long of functioning. He couldn't hear a single thing, not even insects, nothing heck Tai even saw a drop of sweat from some bald businessman's head freeze itself mid drop to the sidewalk below, with various similar sights scattered throughout the area he was in. Oh, and if anyone was confused as to where he was located, think of a sidewalk connected to a square shaped crossroads, and you basically get the gist of it.

'The hell… what's up with all this, what's going on here…?' Tai wondered, stunned beyond belief as he twisted around to get a better view of what was going on… not like it helped any, since all he saw was exactly the same currently. Aside from himself, practically NOTHING had the same luxury, making him shudder in a slight sense of dread. His eyes shook and trembled behind his sunglasses whilst he clenched his fists to try and focus on something other than the rising panic, all the while he tried to make sense of his situation. 'Calm down Tai, calm down. Remember what bro used to say when we were young, whining like a little bitch won't help matters, there's a time for talking and there's a time for action…' he chanted in his mind, before his gaze cast itself onto his surroundings with wariness and caution. 'Well, I can DEFINITELY say like that alien said from destroy all humans, this is the second one. Wonder how my probation officer would react if I recorded this…' he mused mentally, feeling his nerves settle down after that mental monologue.

SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE- SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE-SIZZLE!

Just then, the sounds of crispy sizzling sounds like the ones British and American rice crispies made when mixed with milk filled his ears. This caused him to sharply turn towards the source like a child looking at the surprised face of his parents when they got caught doing something naughty, only to find…. Well, something. He couldn't describe it well, but to Tai's eyes, on the complete opposite end of the frozen street there stood the only other unfrozen thing that he could witness… although saying that it 'stood' could be debated.

Before him, a deep, dark black flame, blacker than the darkest of night roared violently and chaotically, yet there was no heat coming from it. It kind of looked like a chuuni edgelord preteen's wet dream if he were honest, and since he had that kind of kid inside of him deep down, Tai couldn't help but marvel at its splendour. Normally, one would try to run AWAY from fire like this, but to Tai the flame sparked the complete opposite in him, giving him the feeling of wanting to get CLOSER to it. He didn't get it himself, but to him it seemed like… like it was waiting for something, or rather SOMEONE.

As he eyed the flame, Tai noticed it slowly begin to shift itself, twisting and morphing into a somewhat physical form yet still remaining a black flame. Instead of just a formless flame the size of a truck or a van though, now it looked more like a mix of humanoid and… well, dragon if he were to be more specific than lizard. The flames even INTENSIFIED upon this forming's completion, almost like it wanted to howl with sheer joy at being able to take this form. From within the dragon-like being's 'head' a pair of hollow crimson eyes shot open…and Tai froze.

* * *

Next thing he knew, Tai blinked as he found himself standing once more within a moving populace. No longer was there anything frozen in space and even time now that he thought about it, everyone now just seemed to be going on with their day. Not a single one showed any sign of being aware of what had just happened, or even acknowledged it for that matter. If it were him, which in a way it was, Tai would DEFINITELY have something to say about it, like what the hell was that?! What was that flame?! Why did it look at me?! Why the hell did I feel so excited upon meeting it?!

Questions like that ran through the seemingly only non-ignorant person's mind as he stood there, motionless and confused.

'The hell…? What the heck was that just now…? I doubt that was a dream, since I'm not tired nor did I lose any sleep last night…' the male wondered, blinking several more times before looking down at the ground, cupping his chin in thought. His eyes glistened as he forced himself to try and think rationally about his recent experience, something he started to think that only he HIMSEF had gone through. 'Was I hallucinating just then…? Is that it? Could I have been so stressed out that I began to see things which weren't even real or physically possible? Maybe I should have just stayed at home playing some song covers on my guitar…' the Teen eventually decided, nodding to himself whilst mentally deciding on forgetting about this instance… even if it had ingrained itself DEEPLY into his brain and would be a topic of debate for the entirety of it.

BANG!

"Kya!"

… or rather, a topic he'd debate a bit later, cause right now he had just bumped into someone.

"Whoa there!" Quickly, Tai reacted by grabbing the person's arm before they could fall and managed to steady the person till, they regained their balance. Though, in the end that resulted in the person ending up bouncing into his chest, causing him to look down in surprise at the person. "You ok down there? Sorry for the reactionary arm grabbing thing, It just kind of… happened." He remarked, a surge of nervousness entering his being, Why was that? When was the last time he had talked to someone other than Chad and his probation officer? Rummaging his brain, the black-haired teen tried to think of the last time he had a civil conversation with someone but wound up empty, much to his internal surprise. 'Well, at least I can see who it is that I nearly crippled with how strongly I grabbed their arm just now…' the male thought, all before looking towards the person as they separated from him.

"Ehehehe… sorry bout that, I wasn't looking where I was going… ehehehehe…"

Standing before him, rubbing her head sheepishly, was a young girl around 2 years younger than Tai himself, if he were to accurately judge her from her petite physique. She had short hair, coloured a light creamy kind of colour, with dark orange eyes which currently were closed in embarrassment over this little happening. He'd only seen them before when she had pulled away from hm after he had caught her fall, but nevertheless he managed it. In terms of clothing, she wore a simple white dress with matching sandals, a dress which had straps over her shoulders and exposed her arms. Simply put, a girl whom seemed to prefer dressing plainly rather than an extensive fashion guru… and someone whom Tai lost any and all ability to speak to due to having his breath stolen. 'Adorable…'

In that moment, all Tai could think of was that one word, however he refused to let that be for long, and so he shook his head to clear the cobwebs inside his mind. This got accompanied by a curious look from the girl, but it soon vanished when he looked back at her, an arched brow aimed in her direction. "You seemed like you were in a hurry there, mrs. You needing to be somewhere or something?" he asked her curiously, and that wasn't a lie. To Tai, he figured this person had to be late for some sort of date or outing judging by how she was dressed, so he found himself curious as to her reasons for running so much she didn't see herself bumping into someone.

His words served to reignite the flames of panic in her eyes though, as the young girl bounced on one foot then the other in a frantic fit. "Ah, that's right, I'm so sorry but I really gotta be somewhere! Sorry again, gotta go, bye!" she practically stammered at speeds rivalling a certain hedgehog mascot before she rushed by him… only, Tai noticed something about her which caught his attention: a purse-like thing she seemed to be carrying fell from her dress's pocket whilst she ran, with the young girl being none the wiser. It fell down to the ground beside him whilst the girl ran off, likely too focused on her goal to pay it any heed.

'Okay… that was weird… possibly the weirdest encounter I've had with a girl to date… although I don't really talk to them very much, if at all…' he thought to himself, before picking up the purse and looking it over. The purse itself looked… well, it looked pretty girly, as expected from one who had a female owner, what with a pink colour pallet and various flowers dotted over it. 'Looks like she dropped this… Whelp, time to do the sensible thing and return it.' He thought again, before walking off in the direction that the girl ran down whilst pocketing the purse in his jacket….

And keeping a hand on said object so he didn't lose it.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Tai…

A blackened figure leaned up against a wall whilst in a nearby alleyway, hidden from sight yet also watching over the male. The figure's form remained unseen, like some kind of miasma was cloaking the figure entirely, whilst it watched Tai like it was eyeing a sack of meat to be feasted upon with rabid bloodlust. "Looks like… I've found another one…" the figure mused, a small snort escaping its lips, though the actual gender of the figure remained unknown. It was as if something made its voice gender neutral, like one of those voice alteration devices seen in the military.

The figure eyed the black haired boy as he ran off to give the girl her purse back, its eyes shining brightly yet the emotions held within remained concealed, until Tai's form vanished into the distance. Without anything being around to interest the figure any longer, it too decided to make a silent getaway in case somebody saw it, and THAT would be problematic currently.

With that, the figure sunk into the alleyway… and then vanished from the entire area.

* * *

"#MUNCH#, MUNCH#, MUNCH#... #GULP# so good…! So yummy…! Ahh, this hits the spot…!"

The bustling of people around them, either sitting at tables or stools by the bar counter, filled the ears of both Tai and the girl whom he had met a short while ago. Sounds of jokes and laughter could also be heard as the people talked without much of a care in the world, the bar staff on the opposite side of the counter giving out the orders requested by the Customers for their waiting staff to deliver. Some of them looked to be young adults in their early twenties, probably out for a nice meal or something as a form of celebration if one asked him, but the majority of them were middle aged men looking for something to wind down after a hard morning's worth of work in whatever job that they partook in. Occasionally some of them revealed themselves to be couples to the onlookers, whom got either envious or irritated stares from those whom had been single, but none of that bothered these two any.

"On that we can agree, mrs. I'm surprised that you knew which café I was talking about when I recommended it to you." Tai responded with these words to those which the girl opposite him had stated with as much joy as any girl her age would upon eating delicious food. To him, seeing the girl smile so happily with such a big smile, reminded him of the sun for some reason, and it just proved itself goddamn infectious since it brought a light smile onto his own face too. Given his recent circumstances, that wasn't something he got to do very often. In the meantime, Tai himself bit into his serving of a hamburger with a small bowl of chips, a drink of coke beside him to help tidy it all down his throat. Coke to him, was in a way better than Alcohol since more crimes were committed by such things than one would when drinking Coke, so he liked drinking it whenever he went outside, a rare occurrence itself.

'Though, in my current position, me eating with a girl like this isn't something I'm used to… in fact, one could say it's my first time…' the teen thought mentally, taking a bite from his burger to hide his nervousness and thumping heart. Thinking back to the previous events, Tai honestly had to take a moment to sort it all out in his head since it had felt, to him, like one big whirlwind of occurrences beyond his control. First off, tracking that girl down he had suspected would have been quite difficult, since who would mind a girl dressed so plainly as if to merge into a crowd without much trouble? If it were him, Tai didn't think he'd even acknowledge such a plainly dressed person and instead just go about his day, unless something like this morning happened to which he'd be made to discover just how pretty the girl really was. However, to his surprise it had actually been rather easy, since the girl had been apparently running so fast that people had taken notice of her, something which KIND of, maybe, no DEFINITELY set off alarm bells inside his mind, possibilities of some of the more… sinful sort going after her. Tai had no small amount of experience dealing with those types of people, so he had no illusions that they wouldn't try doing something to her and she'd be gullible to be lured into their grasp. Therefore, it had been these things which had motivated him ASIDE from returning her purse to her to track the girl down.

When he had found her, she had been standing close to the front of a long line, one in which lead into a shop which was selling a bunch of limited release CDs out to the public. Apparently, she had noticed her lack of purse if her face slowly turning into one of panic mixed with the look of her stomach sinking had been any indication. Tai of course, managed to get close enough to her to grab her attention, the girl's eyes widening when she saw him thanks to her remembering his face, before it got replaced by relief when he'd handed her, her purse back whilst explaining how it had fallen out of her dress pocket when she had ran from him earlier, prompting her to thank him PROFUSELY for returning it to her. By the time she had bought the CD she had wanted, the young girl's stomach had rumbled like an earthquake going off, causing her to flush a pure crimson and prompting Tai to snicker to himself… although he had to stop when his stomach pretty much followed suit.

He'd never hear the end of it if Chad or any of the punks he beats up heard of this.

Thus, it had led them to coming to this place, a nice small café not too far from the CD shop. Since the time of day made it a fairly busy place, the male had been concerned it would be full, but fortunately luck had been on their side today. Coming here had been Tai's idea at first, but he'd been surprised when the girl had recognized the shop which he had recommended, so it turned out both of them had been on the same wavelength. As a result, the two of them had placed their orders before acting like typical teenagers did: talk and laugh about random stuff, at least until the food and drinks had come, something which Tai got a kick out of when he saw how the girl had ordered a pink smoothie with some fruit salads, with some orange juice on the side. Good choice of drink, he had thought, Tai seal of approval, granted.

"Hehe, yeah me and a friend of mine I've known since childhood come here often to eat together, so its pretty much a hangout spot for us." The young girl explained, shuddering in happiness after taking a bite out of her fruit salad, her expression literally lighting up the room in Tai's eyes. Whilst he had a mental debate on how someone could personify the sun and be happy so much, the girl looked at him with a smile and tilted her head in his direction. "What about you? How did you know about this place? Oh, and thanks again for returning my purse, I checked and saw it hadn't been opened so nothing had happened to it." She questioned him whilst also exposing to him another reason why she had agreed to have something to eat with him. Her dad had always told her not to trust strangers, especially boys for some reason, but if they showcased that they are actual decent human beings to her, then she could get to know them. Well, that last part her mom and grandmother had to put in (with her mom giving her dad a look which all men seemed to fear for some reason). Tai had shown her that, so she decided to put some trust in him.

On the other side, Tai smiled back at her whilst sipping some of his coke and leaning backwards. "No problem, its what any normal person would have done if they were in my shoes, either that or bring it to the police station so they could deal with it, but hey I decided to do the former. Also, what you thought I'd do something only punk gangsters would do? I'm hurt, Mrs, I know you don't know me, but seriously, I don't look like a punk, do it…? Actually wait, don't answer that." He replied, before giving a deadpanned look when he saw her about to reply with something, something he had sensed wouldn't be very good for his pride.

Then again, whilst outwardly he seemed super calm, cool and collected, Tai internally had a whole different picture…

'Fuck, dude can you be any more awkward?! What, is this the result of not talking to girls before in your life?! Seriously, in the last few sentences you had to stop yourself from stammering and looking like a complete IDIOT over 500 TIMES now! If she catches on to this, then goodbye trying to maintain your cool pride you worthless shit stain!'… yeah, internally was a COMPLETELY different story. Guess talking to a girl was actually a lot harder than he had initially expected, as the longer this went on, the more his confidence levels decreased. Seriously, beneath the table whilst they talked his hand LITERALLY gripped his thigh with some sweat starting to build up. Sure Tai could take on a bunch of punks harassing bystanders no problem, if someone pointed a gun at him he'd be able to gauge the bullet lines enough to dodge them (yeah he'd done this a few times when some gangsters pulled fast balls on him, he'd rather NOT make a repeat of that), but talking to a girl whom he'd just helped out of a sticky situation? Why the heck was THAT so damn difficult? And this one wasn't even TRYING anything to make talking to her more difficult, so not fair!

Unaware of the mental plight that Tai had found himself in, the girl before him pouted as she held her juice in her house. "Mou, you don't have to keep calling me Mrs, you know. I'm not old enough yet." She stated, although her lips curving into a smile during her words told a different story. For some reason, the black-haired male found himself feeling like he had been stabbed in the heart with an arrow with the Kanji for 'idiot' with an exclamation mark, upon seeing that smile of hers. "You can call me by name: its Hibiki Tachibana, what's yours?" she asked all the while introducing herself, taking a quick sip between the two sentences that she had spoken with.

"…Hageshī Tairitsu, though Tai's perfectly fine." Tai responded after momentarily taking another bite from his burger and swallowing it, alongside his building anxieties. Meanwhile in his head, the teen pondered a bit on the girl's name, digging up its meaning within his mind. 'Hibiki… a sound or an echo… whilst Tachibana is simply standing flower… kind of artistic if one asks me…' he thought to himself, although he wondered if it was her mother whom had the final say in naming her when she was born. What, Tai usually had random thoughts like these, came with being alone for so goddamn long. Deciding to focus more on the conversation at hand before it got dragged out and thus making Hibiki uncomfortable, Tai spoke once more. "You went through quite a bit for a CD from what I can guess, is there any story there? It has to have a lot of value to you if you got up at 5AM in the morning just to come out here 'from all the excitement' in your blood as you mentioned."

Hibiki smiled at this whilst chuckling nervously, rubbing the back of her head, a faint blush of embarrassment on her face when she recalled telling him that in passing. True to his words, back in the day's morning Hibiki had woken up much earlier than she would have liked due to the excitement this day presented to her, to the point where she felt that if she didn't get some kind of energy drink or caffeine down her, she wouldn't have made it through the day. "Y-Yeah, you could say that…" she began, before she brought the CD out for him to see. The CD's case had a series of different colours and songs on it, but what Tai soon focused on the most was the two young-looking women on the cover frozen in different singing positions. It didn't take him long to recognize them, his eyes widening as Hibiki's own shone with happiness. "One of Zwei Wing's limited-edition CD's was being released today, so I couldn't help it! I'd been waiting for this release for months already after failing to get the limited edition of their last Album… I like tis idol group, just so you know."

"Yeah, I can tell that. Just a LITTLE bit though…" Tai relied, holding up his index finger and thumb just inches away from one another. This earned him another chuckle, this one much more uplifting than her last one, to his relief. Part of him feared that he had gotten something wrong with those words which had come out of his gob before his brain could properly process them. "But on that note, you're a Zwei Wing fan, huh? This is actually kind of ironic that I meet one such fan since I was talking about them yesterday with a friend of mine."

"Eh? Really? Is he a fan too?"

"Well, not exactly. It's not like we hate them or anything, quite the opposite. It was less of a fan talking and more on the purpose of idols themselves as an existence, about how they contribute to society in ways not that many people think about."

Upon hearing his answer, Hibiki let out a small hum of acknowledgement, as she soon listened to an abridged version of the topic Tai and Chad had discussed. She would be honest, part of her worried that she had met someone who didn't like Zwei Wing for a moment there, since seriously how could anyone NOT like them? In her mind, they were a FANTASTIC idol duet who earned their growing reputation. To her surprise, Hibiki actually found herself thinking about their words quite a bit, more so than what she had expected. It made her think of just what actually went on around the Idols whenever they sung, not to mention what it could mean to actually BE an Idol. "Guess that… being an Idol isn't exactly all about just wearing nice clothes and singing in front of an audience, huh…?"

"Pretty much." Tai replied, nodding his head before her in approval with a pleased smile forming on his facial features. Honestly, he found himself surprised at how level-headed this girl seemed to actually be. Maybe this was just because he didn't know her very well, but sometimes Tai got the feeling that these thought provoking things were often said by the minority of people in a society, so it was kind of hard to actually find someone who could understand what they were saying, let alone share similar ideals. "Sorry if that's not really your thing, me and my buddy tend to try and see things from a different perspective than most, especially popular topics."

At this, the girl before him shook her head in denial, her hair lightly swishing about following the direction of said body part. "Oh, no it is fine." Hibiki clarified with a bit of a forced smile as she tried to find the words to answer. Learning that someone thought things a little bit differently about her love for Zwei Wing, not in a negative sense but more on a philosopher sense, kind of made it more difficult for her to say anything back. Though, she managed to find words to respond with in the end, words which were simple and direct, just like a spear being thrust forwards. "It is just, well, I just like them because I do. I like their lyrics, songs, and things like that. I might be a bit dumb for saying this but liking something just because you do makes sense."

Tai nodded his head in acceptance of that, his eyes flashing with a knowing light. He had quickly seen how she had been affected by his words due to the forced nature of her smile, his own observational skills helping with the rest, so he didn't try to argue with her there. Like he believed before, his opinion on the whole idol schtick wasn't like those of most, so he wasn't offended in any way. "Well, I guess that is true." He admitted, raising a hand and pushing up his sunglasses. The best thing about wearing these was doing said action occasionally, it felt almost addicting. Still, the topic needed to be changed before it got any more awkward, and Tai had one just for this occasion that he'd read about on an article online. "Anyway, have you seen the amusement park they are building? I heard they plan to make the fastest rollercoaster of the entire country in it." He questioned.

Hibiki's eyes sparkled at the mention of it as a surge of excitement plastered itself onto her features. "Oh, I heard about that!" she exclaimed, before her eyes widened and she nervously laughed when several customers gave her the stink eye. Afterwards, she turned her attention back to her current conversation partner, soon continuing her words. "They also said that it will take a while before it opens but the opening ceremony will be with that new solo singer, Golden Sun." The moment that he heard that last part, Tai had to contain a grimace.

"Please don't talk of THAT name, it is a terrible singer's name no matter how you see it." Tai commented dryly. Golden Sun, he had heard of the name only recently, was someone whom had only just recently entered the idol industry. A male idol, which is kind of rare these days, the dude took the world by storm with how good his songs were, especially amongst the female fans he had. Tai didn't doubt that the dude's popularity largely contributed to his career's rapid development to the point where some fans even had debates on who was better, either Zwei Wing or him. Even Tai himself had heard a few of his songs, and whilst they were actually pretty good AND thought provoking (especially the one he called 'Hyperdrive' which pretty much had a strong connection to living life on the edge and making the most of it, especially the thrill). However, one thing he COULD NOT get over was the crappy stage name, seriously 'Golden Sun?' That just SCCREAMED attention grabber to him, like that was the most important thing in the world. Sure, its important for an Idol to have large amounts of attention on them, its how they grow in the entertainment industry for god's sake. But the name, to him, just sounded goddamn OBNOXIOUS.

Chad honestly thought it suited the guy, judging from what few interviews with him there were… and he wasn't technically wrong, either.

His conversation partner OBVIOUSLY had her own thoughts on that one, judging by the reaction she gave off after he had spoken. "Oh, come on, it is cool. He does have an energetic personality, blond spiky hair, likes to wear bright colours, and his actual name IS Sun, why would he not call himself Golden Sun?" Hibiki said with a pout, Golden Sun might have just started to raise but he was not much behind the Zwei Wing in Hibiki's personal list of favourite artists, he was only behind the Zwei Wing, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Chuck Norris because she was a girl that secretly likes fighting movies.

"Humph, still a bad name." Tai remarked still, shrugging his shoulders as if to say, 'what can you do about it?' Nothing would change his mind on that name front, not a single thing, heck not even Chad had been able to change his mind on that one. But before Hibiki could comment on that, he beat her to it with reluctant admittance dripping from his words. "But I do think that his songs are rather nice. Especially the rock ones."

Hibiki on her side, rolled her eyes at that. "Boys and their rock'n'roll," Of course that was just a jest and Tai smirked to himself at that one, the two chuckling at the statement in unison.

* * *

Time passed, and the two spent that time together at the café, eating, talking laughing and just flat out having a nice time. During which Hibiki had called her parents to let them know where she was so they didn't worry, something which Tai could respect… although he DID hide a small flinch when he had first heard the word 'parents' come from her. The stuff that they talked about usually revolved around what they liked and disliked, such as Hibiki's love for anime and manga, especially one about a bunch of buff dudes with special powers who pummel the hell out of one another. That one had been one of her favourites, which had prompted Tai into correctly assuming that she had been a fan of the hardcore action genre of entertainment. On the other hand, Tai had mentioned how he liked hanging out with his best bro Chad, one of the few people whom he knew that the teen could tolerate, prompting Hibiki to ask more about him and for Tai to give her a… descriptive lecture on what the man was like.

Needless to say, Hibiki got the impression that his friend was more like a robot than a human, of which Tai couldn't TECHNICALLY call her out on, since usually the guy was pretty quiet and did things asked of him. Even when teachers talk to him in private (no, nothing happens in those instances for any who try asking), he usually gave short, curt replies. The only person whom he would have any sort of human connection to was Tai himself, something which the teen hid his dissatisfaction for.

In the end though, Tai glanced down at his watch, noticing that the time was getting on. 'Ah, looks like I'll have to hurry on back home, get changed for work, then head on over, eh? Meh, its worth it if I got something out of this, and a potential friend is always a good start…' the male thought to himself, letting a sigh escape his lips. His food and Hibiki's had long since been eaten, the drinks being drunk, leaving only the dirty plates and glasses behind. "Whelp looks like I've got to go. I'm heading to my part time job this afternoon, so I got to change back home." He told her, standing up from the café.

"Eh, ah, ok…" Hibiki blinked, momentarily surprised, though it didn't last long before she stood up herself. She honestly didn't know how it had happened, but she had spent more than a few hours talking with Tai, and she didn't regret it one bit. Admittingly, part of her had been worried that he was someone with insidious intentions, but that doubt had vanished long ago. Now though, the girl figured it was time to head on home, her mother and father would likely be worried about her, though not as much if she hadn't called them earlier. Plus, she had to listen to her CD, a major plus in her book! With that intent in mind, Hibiki made sure to secure her purse inside her Dress, not wanting to have a repeat of the previous incident, before lowering her head to him. "Thanks again for helping me out earlier, I really appreciate it."

In response to her words, Tai rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses as he waved the gratitude off like it was no big deal, though in his mind he practically SWOONED in happiness. "No problem, Hibiki. Just try to buy a proper bag for your stuff, that way you won't have to worry about this happening again." He stated, getting a nod from the young girl. Now, don't get him wrong, Tai did know of the reason WHY she didn't have a bag; he'd been told by Hibiki herself. Apparently, the bag she usually took on her outings had gotten too worn and had started forming holes in. She had yet the money and time to buy a new one, so she had to make do with what she had. "Oh, and on your way home, be careful of any hoodlums trying to shake you down, there's been an uprising of their crime rates thanks to the Noise' increasing appearances." He advised, unknowingly adopting a father-like demeanour before her. "I'd stick to the public areas if I were you, the metro's a safe bet since around this time the train's aren't as packed as they usually are, perhaps-"

"Hey, no need to worry, you're starting to act like my dad does sometimes…" Hibiki remarked, blushing slightly in embarrassment yet her lips held themselves in an easy-going smile. "Despite what happened today, I'm pretty confident in my independence. I'll be sticking to that stuff anyways, plus I'm adequate with some self-defence, so I'll be fine." She explained in an effort to placate the guy she had just met, though the intent to keep him from drawing more attention to them, what with the looks he drew from some of the customers, definitely had a part to play.

Tai didn't look entirely convinced by her words at first, but eventually he relented since Hibiki did have a point, he wasn't her dad or her guardian or anything. He was just a practical stranger to her right now, so… he guessed he had just acted a bit creepy and a bit rude to her just now by thinking she didn't know what she was doing. 'Tch, damnit Tai, stop screwing up, you idiot! You shouldn't show your worry for her so quickly, she'll think you're a goddamn pathetic moron!' he mentally scolded himself, though outwardly he gave her a nervous, apologetic smile. "Right, sorry 'bout that. I was just a bit worried since hoodlums like to target pretty girls, and all…"

Okay, WHY the FUCK was he digging himself into that hole? You don't just call a random girl you just met pretty! What the heck was wrong with him?! These thoughts soon filled his mind after he realized what he said, and the slight uncomfortable look Hibiki sported only made him feel even worse. Clearing his throat to help him alleviate the awkwardness, Tai opted to move the situation along. "Anyways, just be careful, alright? Hope we meet again someday, since it was nice talking to you regardless."

"Hm!" Hibiki nodded, her previous expression of uncertainty vanishing. "Its ben real nice talking to you again, Tai san. Hopefully if we meet again, we can talk some more." She suggested, to which the teen nodded in response before she bid him one last farewell, then left the café with a light spring in her step.

'A jolly type, isn't she…?' The black-haired male thought wryly, a matching smirk on his lips before he pocketed his hands in his jeans, all before stepping out the café himself and proceeding to walk home to change for his part-time job.

All the while, the incident he had before meeting Hibiki had practically vanished from his thoughts.

* * *

Things proceeded rather smoothly and uninterestingly after the events in the Café. Having returned home, got changed into his work clothes, Tai had left and entered his workplace in record time, starting his afternoon shift which would only end in the evening. His work, well, at first, he had been one big slouch at it, having actually never worked a part time job before all the stuff that had happened. However, he had too much at stake to slack off for even a moment, so it hadn't been long till he had settled in and became a competent worker there. Even his peers, whom had been… less than hospitable at the time (read: occasional blackmail, threats of physical violence, rude remarks made silently behind his back etc), had eventually just stopped bothering him to do their own jobs, something their manager couldn't be happier about. Tai himself though, no matter how much time had passed, couldn't see it, or the damned colleagues, as anything other than a means to an end. Mostly due to past experiences, but his faith in adults in general, as well as the lawful side of things, had been shot to hell with a semi-automatic machine gun and died off.

All because of that night… when his eyes had been opened.

Opened to the fake laughs,

The false smiles,

The silent judgement of others around oneself,

Betrayal from any angle for one reason or another,

Tai had seen a world where all that became commonplace… and that world left its mark.

By the time that he had finished his shift and returned home, it turned out to be 10 in the evening. 'Whew, another long day… work's been getting hectic with all the commotion with the Noise…' The teen thought, opening his house's door, stepping inside, closing the door, taking off his footwear before finally heading to his room and falling onto his bed. Exhaustion made it so that Tai couldn't be bothered to change into his PJ's, so he simply discarded everything but his underwear for quickness, his mind screaming at him for rest all the while. Heck, his body felt more and more like led when by the second when exposed to the sheer comfort the warm bed covers provided him. 'Though, I bet the manager will be happy about that, the guy's got ambition from what I've seen…'

There was always something about the place where he worked that Tai had noticed, something which separated it from the other establishments around it. The workplace which Tai earned his income from, it didn't have that many staff members due to its low popularity and small following, but they got by with what they had. Although, them not being as well-known also had some… liberties that the manager took whenever he pleased, liberties which happened to various members of the staffing around him, and Tai had to keep his head down lest he suffer the same fate. He did NOT want to get too close to that guy, he gave Tai the creeps like nobody's business. Still, despite this the manager tended to be an ambitious person, with the goal of making it big with this business and profiting whenever he saw an opportunity. For example, if there were any Noise attacks close to their location, he would try to draw them into their establishment so the people, as depressed as they were, could try and forget their troubles. Guy had ambitions and business tactics down pat, that was for certain.

Didn't mean people liked him, well, the common people anyways.

Finally, Tai felt his consciousness starting to slip into the blissful oblivion known as the land of dreams. He knew he didn't have long left in the awakened world, but still the teen managed to slip himself under the covers similar to a four-legged animal, kicking them upwards and over himself before he grabbed the quilt's edges and pulled it up to his neck level, allowing the warmth and comfort to fill his utterly drained self for the night.

'Ahhhh… this is… nice…'

Those were his last thoughts before the tired teen's eyes finally closed themselves, his form relaxing as his mind sent itself into slumber. Soft breathing filled the room thanks to the slumbering male, whom had remained unaware of one little thing: the Pendant necklace which still remained attached to his neck. Normally he would have just took it off and placed it next to him on the drawers, however his weary state of mind prevented that thought process from occurring. As a result, the teen slept with it lying next to him on the pillowcase for the entire night…

* * *

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Heat exploded out onto the scene, causing Tai's eyes to shoot open with a start. A shrill gasp escaped him at the suddenness of the heat, his heart hammering in his chest as he jumped upwards like a victim in a horror movie. The heat, regardless, didn't persist and thanks to that, Tai almost felt like the air within his lungs was rapidly leaving him. Hell, that felt like the sole thing which could describe the feelings coursing through him at the moment, the feeling of being suffocated but not being allowed to fall unconscious or die. The sensation of the heat scraping along his flesh like a cheese grater had been applied to it constantly and roughly with burn marks slowly spreading over his form. Some areas even became red with blistering scars being left behind, but none of this felt as important as the sole question which formed inside his head. 'Wha-WHAT THE FUCK?!'

Confusion filled his being regarding his present circumstances, but the first thing Tai felt necessary to do was gauge his surroundings, so he could find a way to escape and get some air. Quickly, the teen looked around, searching for what could be the source of this predicament he was in. However, he soon came to regret this decision, for all around him burned, the space in front of him, the space below, above, everywhere he looked Tai saw nothing but flames, black flames which looked blacker than the abyss burning everything around his vicinity. Some red areas hinted at a possible crimson environment, although Tai had ZERO clue as to what that environment could have been.

"What the hell… what the fuck is going on here?!"

**[HAAA…. HAAAAAAHHHH…]**

His face then lost all colour when a loud, booming breath, one which didn't sound ANYTHING remotely human, resonated behind him, his eyes shrinking to the size of dots. Against every single instinct for self-preservation he had, Tai slowly turned behind him where he had heard the voice come from, his hair swaying slightly from some small winds generated by the flames. A couple seconds his gaze fell up towards the source of the voice… and almost instantly he had to resist the urge to faint in sheer shock, fear and object horror when he saw it:

The same thing he had seen back at the crossroads today…

Only, it was HUGE, titanic even.

"Y-You…!"

Tai spoke only once, yet it took all his willpower to even get that word out without draining the limited air supply in his lungs. His small eyes trembled violently whilst his mouth hung open, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead whilst he eyed the two hollow crimson holes the dragon had for eyes, his body trembling down to his very soul. The more the teen stared, the more he began to feel like he was staring into the eyes of death, darkness and oblivion, this felt like something any edgy and angsty preteen 12 year old would only DREAM of in their wild fantasies, but the difference between them and this… was that Tai knew for a FACT that this was REALL. It was ACTUALLY happening, and he swore he heard the evil cackle of the grim reaper from behind him, its scythe at his neck ready to properly decapitate him at any moment.

If he thought this thing had been intimidating as fuck BEFORE back at the four-way crossing, then right now it looked like one of his worst nightmares come to freaking life. Not only did its size increase, but the creature's sheer presence, dominance and bloodlust felt like a whole new league of traumatizing.

**[GRAAA…. GUUUGGGG…. GAAAAAAAAAA…!]**

Once again, the Dragon let out some glutaral, bestial growls from the flames which made its neck, slowly shifting closer to the young teen and looming over him like a god surrounded by feeble, frail mortal worshippers. Crimson fumes fell out the space where its nostrils looked to be, mimicking a snorting gesture as it eyed Tai like a sack of meat, hunger and bloodlust shining within those hollow crimson, downright demonic looking eyes it had. Tai himself on the other hand, took a single step backwards in a moment of instinctual fight, However… that turned out to be the absolute WORST thing he could have done…

As he soon realized a millisecond before it happened.

That step back resulted in him falling onto his backside, to the point which the Dragon's eyes widened, and it let out a bellowing roar, as if his movement had been a signal for it. Tai quickly covered his face with his arms as flames redder than the eyes which it possessed shot out from its mouth like a water hose, completely engulfing him with not a single hope for escape in sight…

* * *

"GUH!"

A shrill cry escaped Tai's lips as his eyes shot open, shooting up into a sitting position from his former one in his bed. His eyes, similar to how they had been before, shook horrendously, his body layered with a layer of sweat from every pore over his flesh. Silence surrounded him as the male breathed in an out, each breath heavy and ragged whilst his mouth hung open, his body trembling violently whilst his heart hammered away within the confines of his chest. For a moment, he remained like this as terror gipped him like a vice, stopping him from doing anything else especially when phantom pains rocked his body. Gritting his teeth, Tai's right hand shot to his chest, right above the vital organ known as his heart, clutching that area around it tightly and feeling its rapid thumping.

'I'm… I'm alive…!'

That thought crossed his mind as the seconds passed and his brain recovered from the experience enough for coherent thought processing, causing the teen to feel a mix of emotions. One side of him couldn't help but be relieved that he felt it, since it meant he was alive still… yet the phantom pains remained within him, such as the burn marks still stinging even if they weren't there anymore, the areas which got utterly DEVOURED by the flames that Dragon breathed out onto him, which mostly came from his arms, the whole lot. It felt so… real, and that utterly HORRIFIED him. More so than he'd care to admit, enough that a part of him believed that to be the closest he had ever came to a life or death situation.

'That…that was…!'

Whatever he had just experienced right now, both in his dream and before meeting Hibiki… Tai could count it as one of the most horrifying experiences of his entire lifetime. The way that dragon looked at him, the way it felt so REAL, it chilled him to the bone even though he had returned to the land of the awake. Heck, looking down at his hands which clutched the edges of the quilt covers tightly, Tai still noted the object trembling they did, feeling dampness over his skin thanks to the layer of sweat covering his person.

Phantom images assaulted his mind, images which hammered the fact that what had happened just now was NOT a dream before he could even comprehend otherwise. The greatest image was that of the two crimson eyes of the dragon bearing down on him, almost like it was trying to pierce through his mortal coil and peer down into his very soul, exposing everything he had ever thought, felt and done in his lifetime. It sort of reminded him of the Grim Reaper in a lot of ways, as it seemed to be judging him in some way… in what way or why he didn't know though, but that fact persisted in his mind. Nevertheless, there was ZERO chance that he would see that thing as just an illusion or fake at this point. Tai felt like this because he had seen that dragon twice now, first time before meeting Hibiki, and now again. That meant that there was DEFINITELY something about that dragon, something which it was trying to FORCE him to keep being aware of, although what that was exactly wasn't something that he could figure out.

What the hell was that thing?

Where did it come from?

Why did he see it and nobody else?

Was it harmful?

Would it end up causing damage to what few things left he cared about?

And, the most important question…

Why the hell did he find it so familiar?

That last one resonated with Tai the most, especially with his current situation. With how fragile it was, he was on thin ice with the law, so any misbehaviour from him would likely end up making his probation officer throw him into Juvenile. Those fights he got into with the punks scattered throughout, he had mostly kept them to himself, and those that he HAD to reveal were done so at times he had no other option. Fortunately, those times were when they forced him into a corner, plus he had evidence during those times to prove his claims via recordings of their conversations (which he'd made without those gangsters knowing). He didn't want to ruin any more of what he currently had, not with what he had on the line, especially with how he had a single great friend, someone whom he could just sit and talk with…

Not many people could say they had the same.

Therefore, if something like this was going to threaten what little peace he had left from his own actions, then Tai would HAVE to stop it. There was no other way around it, even if that beast proved to be an unimaginably powerful thing from some Shonen anime or whatever, Tai would still try to fight it in whatever way he could, even if it wasn't much. May be a bit of a dumb decision in the eyes of others, but his situation demanded such extremes to be taken. Tai REFUSED to lose what precious things he had left, Chad, his home, his peaceful life, no matter what he'd do his damned best to make sure none of those things would be threatened by ANYONE.

'SIGH… I'll think about it later…' the teen thought whilst exhaling both mentally and physically. He didn't have the strength, energy nor the patience to deal with this right now, not when he wasn't in top form as of yet. Moreover, it was the middle of the night (he'd just checked his watch which lay on the drawers beside his bed for confirmation), and he wanted to have some good rest gosh darn it! Fortunately, he didn't have anything to do tomorrow, so Tai could just spend the morning lying in before immersing himself in research. That's all that he planned for tomorrow, heck all that had been planned just now and it would be the extent of his thinking tonight.

The urge to yawn rose through his chest, causing Tai to do so whilst putting one hand over his mouth and the other straight towards the ceiling above. Whelp looked like the time for sleep had finally arrived, and he could tell that the adrenaline from the experience was starting to wear off due to the increasing heaviness of his eyes and his heartbeat returning to normal. It wouldn't do to think too much on it with the state Tai was currently in, so he'd save it for next morning when he A; had some breakfast in his belly, B; had some decent sleep, and C; completely recovered from his experience. Afterwards, the teen fell back onto his pillowcases, staring up at the ceiling as he waited for sleep to claim his being once again… Only, sleep didn't come till a couple hours later.

Not only that, but unbeknownst to Tai, mas he lay there asleep, the Pendant which lay beside his head on the pillowcase still, strangely in the same position as previously… its crimson jewel had begun to emit a faint, if not downright dim, glow in its centre. If one got an even closet look, they would have seen the slightly opening of a single, crimson slitted eye within its depths. This only happened temporarily though, and it vanished as soon as it had appeared, leaving no trace of its existence.

* * *

"Ahhh… Looks like its starting…"

A figure stood on top of a nearby building, overlooking the small house that Tai currently resided in. Thanks to the lack of light, the figure's form remained unseen, though the vague outline that it had implied that it had been the same one spying on Tai from the shadows earlier.

"On the other hand, the kid has a nice house, warm, cosy… but most importantly isolated from the outside. Should an awakening happen, he'll likely not attract that much attention… Although whatever happens after that will depend on him."

The figure mused this, though despite the mild intrigue that could be felt in its tone, it got overshadowed by the disinterest and blank monotones the figure remarked with. To it, this boy, Tai, posed no threat to it, in its eyes the boy would be like a little hatchling. Far unworthy of tasting its fangs. Still, with the impending awakening, and the subsequent activation, its likely that 'their world' will have another participant in it. What happens after that, the figure couldn't be bothered with. With its thoughts confirmed, the figure then vanished, leaving no trace of its presence there.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Fated Concert

**Chapter 3 – The Fated Concert**

A couple weeks passed since Tai had first met Hibiki, a couple weeks had passed since he first felt his life beginning to spiral out of control… and he wasn't wrong.

The last few weeks had been some of the worst ones he'd ever had…

More so than when he first got released on his probation.

That nightmare he had… it wasn't the only one, for it kept coming back to haunt him each night with each time becoming more and more vivid than the previous instance. Kind of like a set of dominos which got bigger with each one being knocked down. Every time the nightmare occurred, he'd find himself losing more and more sleep, to the point where he only got a couple hours of it each night with each time feeling increasingly REAL. It scared the living daylights out of him, as he constantly felt like a pair of crimson, hollow eyes had been eyeing down on his back from behind, causing him to become quite paranoid and jumpy. Fortunately, he had managed to keep it somewhat together in his normal life, as in he kept it together at school, his job and most importantly with Chad. He didn't have many problems there, since he had something to focus on, so his brain didn't wander back towards that dream.

Unfortunately, that only ended whenever he returned home, for his mind would inevitably go back there and the horror would continue unabashed. He'd have dreams at first, but then the nightmares seemed to cross over into the real world, in the form of hallucinations in his mind whilst he remained awake, and Tai SWORE he could see the Dragon appear before him, glaring at him with its burning hollow crimson eyes. He could sometimes feel the creature's breath trickling down his neck, the sheer bloodlust and hunger driving it to want to tear into his flesh and wreck him a new one, something which constantly sent him chills every time the thought popped into his head like an annoying itch which wouldn't be satisfied. This… yeah, Tai could certainly call this hell, and he wasn't someone with any religious beliefs since his had been shot to hell already.

Worse still, was that he hadn't told NOBODY about this, not even his best bro Chad. There were SEVERAL reasons for this course of action. For one, it's highly unlikely that anyone would even believe him if he told them what he'd been experiencing, they'd just as soon put him in juvie or even a mental asylum than do that. In addition, Tai didn't want to pull Chad into this, the guy had a bright future ahead of him which by the day grew more and more promising, even if he had a lacking social life. Guy only hung out with Tai for god's sake, and that was something the teen couldn't help but be thankful for. Therefore, putting that in jeopardy for ANYTHING like his own selfish reasons just didn't sit right with the teen, so he had to fight this all on his own. However, that didn't mean that Chad didn't indirectly and unknowingly help, for just thinking about the times they spent together, broing it out, studying or just their usual philosophical conversations, all of it just REALLY helped Tai cope with his newfound situation. He was one of the only things which helped keep his sanity intact and from cracking into a million pieces like a glass window shattering.

Well, it wasn't like he didn't have experience on that front.

On another note, Tai hadn't met Hibiki ever since that day at the Café, something which both disappointed him as well as kind of relieved him at the same time. In terms of being disappointed, well, that mainly stemmed from Hibiki being the first girl whom Tai had ever managed to talk to, ever. She had been someone whom he had managed to get along with even if it had been a little (read: VERY) awkward more than a few times. More importantly, she had been the first he'd managed to talk to WITHOUT getting screwed over somehow, not to mention just how easy it was to talk with her, it honestly amazed him that someone could be so open with another like she could. On the other hand, the relief that he didn't see her again came from the fact that BECAUSE it had been super awkward before, that he feared that he may make a fool out of himself before her and thus, make her dislike him forever. Tai did NOT want to ruin what could have been a decent cordial relationship between him and a girl from his own fucked up lifestyle.

As of right now, Tai sat on one of the sofas in his living room, taking a small break from yet another fruitless search for any kind of answer to his dilemma. The teen had been spending the first couple ours of the day after waking up and having breakfast trying to find any sort of clues regarding the dragon he had seen, but so far nothing had come up. Not a single thing he tried to search for on the internet linked up with the dragon, almost as if the internet, which was the BIGGEST information cache in the world, had NOTHING on this creature. However, despite his accumulated failures Tai refused to give up hope. Despite his failures building up bigger than several Chad's on top of one another, he didn't have any other alternative solution to resolve his problem with. The internet was his best option, especially since he hardly knew where to START if he tried asking anybody else about it. They'd just label him an insane idiot just as fast as the authorities which had kicked him to the curb for no reason.

'If that's not going to be a viable option, then where else can I start…?' the male wondered as he looked up at the ceiling, soon blinking when he saw the silhouette of the dragon in question starting to form inside his mind's eye. Quickly, the teen shook his head and closed his eyes, dispersing the image for now. It usually came to him whenever he thought too hard about something, so Tai figured he needed to do something other than heavy thinking to keep his mind occupied.

Just as he thought that…

CLATTER!

His eyes shot open in surprise when he heard something plastic being passed through his door's in-built mailbox, making him wonder what it could be. Was it bills? He'd already paid them for this month so it shouldn't have been that… In the end, Tai stood up and walked out to investigate. The teen walked into the corridor and towards his front door, where he found an envelope having fallen down to the ground in front of it, causing him to arch his brow as he stopped before it and bent down to pick the envelope up. Holding it in front of him Tai looked at it for a moment, wondering what it could be. 'It has my address on it, so it must be for me… I swear, if this is just more scam mail, I'm gonna…'

Using his hands, Tai opened the envelope and took out its contents, expecting it to be just some junk mail… only, it turned out to be something else entirely. It actually caused him to go slack-jawed, dropping the envelope that they were once in and forgetting about its existence, for in his hands… there lay an invitation-like card as well as a couple of tickets. Tickets to something which he had only discussed with someone once in the last few weeks yet had been hearing news about it here and there ever since. 'These… these are Zwei Wing concert tickets! This invitation… upon opening it, its basically saying that these were awarded to me by winning a lottery…' the teen thought whilst doing the actions his thoughts just spoke of. 'But, when did I win a Lottery…? Oh wait, I think I recall doing something like that once out of frustration about not getting any answers to my questions a while back. I must have not paid much attention to it back then, and now I've actually WON tickets to a concert with these guys!' he thought in amazement. The more he looked at them the more amazed he became… and then he noticed something else, something on the tickets themselves which caused his brow to twitch and his amazement to switch to annoyance. 'Really? Golden Sun's going to be the starter singer at this? Well, I guess that aside from the stage name, his songs will be a decent choice then. Maybe I should go just to see how this will all develop, then get back to my research…'

It should be known that this would mark the first time Tai had ever went to a Live Concert in his life. The teen never went to any before due to not liking the thought of being around so many people he didn't know, that reasoning becoming WAY more founded after that incident. Plus, it wasn't like they interested him much back then either, what with him not having much of a social life, plus he wanted to keep his own singing of covers a secret that he'd take to his grave if he had to. He didn't want ANYONE to have even an inkling to his secret hobby, he'd make sure to be silent about it for the rest of time if he had to. Still, his decision to go to this concert and risk being found out was simply due to his frustration with his lack of progress with his research, so Tai simply figured that he'd benefit from a little break. If these hadn't fallen at his doorstep, then he'd likely have engaged in his secret hobby for a time.

'Whelp, the concert's in a week, so I better start prepping myself by researching the times, location etc… #SIGH# this will be tideous…'

* * *

A week later…

Already on the train to the concert, Tai mentally groaned in annoyance, barely able to move. Another reason why he didn't like going to concerts was the fact that the transportation there would usually be cramped like all hell. The space in the train was absurdly cramped as more and more people enter the train, it quickly grew to be a major thorn on his side. Honestly, why were there so many people inside this place? Not only that, but did a lot of these people not know what the appliance known as a 'bath' was? A lot of them smelled absolutely horrendous, like they had taken a dumpster dive right before visiting a brothel for a couple hours THEN get onto this train all sweaty and gross. Some of them even acted like heavy breathers with drool coming out of their mouths unbeknownst to them.

'Ugh, this irritates me like all hell… what I would do for some space around here… seriously, why the hell did I agree to do this?' Tai thought to himself, though he had lost count of how many times he had done so within the last 10 minutes. 'Dealing with that dragon thing may be annoying, but at LEAST I didn't have to endure this kind of torment…' Also, an interesting thing to note, was that concerning the Dragon Tai didn't get as many encounters with it as he had before, something he had mixed feelings about due to the lack of information he had on it as of late. Guess emotions like frustration really did lead to rash decisions later on, huh? To try and keep his cool and avoid any kind of annoying confrontation, the black-haired teen decided to recount on what he did before today, which wasn't really all that much. He did do some research about Zwei Wing and Golden Sun though, about their previous concerts and how they went. Usually when they made their concerts known there would not be a single seat left, proving just how popular these two artists were in the music industry. Tai could only imagine how much they got for a salary since they sold merchandise, got profits from companies, alongside various other methods. Sighing again silently, Tai shifted his focus towards his watch to determine the time he had left. According to his watch, there would be about one hour yet for the show to start so he would probably have just enough time to get there and find a seat. The thing was since he didn't go to concerts Tai worried that he might get lost. He'd have to suck up his pride if he reached that point, ask the staff for directions, then as much as he loathed to do so.

Suddenly, from one of the stops towards the one closest to the Concert building which happened to be near a bay, a huge figure boarded the train, something Tai noticed. Normally, he would have not even given a damn, but some details about the person caught his attention, and as such he looked towards him fully to see who it was. Many people got forced to move along to accommodate the new arrival, with some annoyed groans and remarks being thrown the guy's way. Whilst Tai mentally grinned at their plight in a form of spite, it soon got washed away and replaced by happiness, enough to make a conveying smile form on his face when he finally saw the person completely.

"Yo, Chad. What you doing here?" Tai queried, allowing the massive teen to notice him. This came before him moving over to his friend, stiffly to say the least. As he got closer to the black-haired male, the people around moving to accommodate him which resulted in Chad getting uncomfortable because of it. Seeing this and the glares aimed at his friend, Tai mentally growled, not liking their attitudes towards him. It wasn't really his friend's fault that he was built to look like a giant, he simply was.

It didn't take him long to reach Tai though, in which he pulled something out of his pocket with his large hand. "... I bought this a while ago." He replied simply unlike when they discussed philosophical subjects, showing him a ticket just like Tai's own.

"Huh, you bought yours, I won one at a Lottery. Who knew-"

"Hey, could you two move somewhere else?" A girl's voice broke him from his words, drawing his and Chad's attention to behind the former. She sat on one of the few seats available and, now that he looked at her, Tai noticed she had her feet on top of the chair which was a two-seater similar to a sofa, practically taking two seats for herself. "You are blocking the light, idiots." The girl grumbled and Tai noticed she was reading a magazine about guns.

Even so, the teen made to angrily retort, she being rude and all, but Chad just put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head before gesturing for them to go a bit away from here. This made Tai roll his eyes, though his anger had softened as he nodded his head in acceptance. 'Well, I'll humour his overly pacifist ways this once, in part because there is no real problem doing so and in other part because I don't want to enter into a fight with a girl so suddenly.' He thought, moving away to some other seats with his friend.

Though, that didn't mean he wouldn't make sure to memorise her features so that should she meet him again, she wouldn't be so lucky. Said girl apparently seemed to be a short girl with purple eyes and long lavender hair that fell to her knees, separated into twin-tails that further split into three curly strands each, and an ahoge. For clothing, she wore a maroon skin-tight one-piece with a black choker, short puffy sleeves and shorts, a translucent red-violet cut-out exposing some of her chest and upper back, detached long sleeves with black accents that go past her wrist, black lace trim on the end of the shorts, black stockings with maroon ribbon garters attached to the dress, and maroon pumps. She did LOOK quite pretty, but Tai also noticed (not just from her behaviour before) that she had a punk air to her, one which made him question to himself why someone like her would even WANT to go to an idol show like this in the first place.

"Tch, bunch of p***. It is best that that idiot doesn't screw this up and really show me something good or I WILL beat him to a pulp." She grumbled to herself, making it clear in Tai's mind that she really WAS quite a spitfire. Made him pity those whom she interacted with, though not by much since he wasn't too much a fan of people in general. Deciding to no longer pay her any heed, Tai instead focused on waiting for his and Chad's stop, hoping that they wouldn't have to deal with this crowd for much longer.

* * *

Soon, the train stopped at the last station, which turned out to be the one which Tai and Chad needed to get off at so they could walk to the Concert building, which looked like one big circular stadium that was, again, located by a large bay to give a massive ocean view. Since it also looked like the sun was setting, it had a real breath-taking charm to it. Though, Tai and Chad didn't stop to take it in as they didn't have exactly long before the Concert started. As such, it had been up to the latter (whom surprisingly knew his way around quite well) to help guide them to their seats in the stands. Good thing too, cause despite researching the location himself online, Tai felt like he had GROSSLY underestimated just how big this place was. Seriously, for his first time in one of these places he felt like an insignificant ant here, and he did NOT like it. He felt so goddamn uncomfortable, but the thing which helped him hold it together was the presence of his bro, whom gave him a sense of familiarity which acted like an anchor.

Yet another thing he felt grateful to the large teen for.

"Still, so this is a Concert, huh…?" The black-haired Teen mumbled under his breath, looking around at all the people having gathered today to witness the songs of Zwei Wing. He also bet there were a few dozen fans for Golden Sun, no wait he had to revise that statement when his gaze landed on a whole ¼ of the stadium at the back. One which conveniently had the fans of said music artist all grouped together, eagerly cheering and howling with excitement. Men, woman, teenagers, even a fair amount of kids could be seen on that side of the Stadium, making Tai experience for the first time just how popular the guy truly was.

'Wow… for someone who has a bad stage name, it must have truly stuck if it's thought of so fondly by these people…'

That was his sole thought, as he glanced about at the hollering people around him. Geez, it was so hard to hear himself think right now, but he didn't but his lid since Chad had a hand on his shoulder, keeping him calm and stopping him from blowing a gasket. Guess the guy had sensed something like that being about to happen and had moved to intervene, it wouldn't have been the first time Chad had successfully read Tai as if he were an open book. But back to his original topic, if someone like Golden Sun had this much of an impact, just how big was Zwei Wing's? Also, would he be forced to reconsider his opinion of the guy through his singing? Hearing him sing online is COMPELTELY unlike that of real life experience, so who knows…?

"… It is starting." Chad spoke, breaking Tai out of his thoughts as the lights dimmed, save for a few who just shone over some kind of entrance from backstage. Everyone of them looked, eager to see who would come out, and they soon got their answers when a… colourful person stepped out onto the Stage…

Or rather, he literally JUMPED out of the backstage entrance, flipped through the air with parkour skills which actually impressed Tai (and he wasn't someone who got impressed easily) before landing and sliding to a halt onto the middle of the Stage. Everyone cheered and whooped when he did so, to the point where the teen thought he might go deaf from it all.

After standing upright, Golden Sun looked around, a smile to his face that was basically radiating energy as he took out a microphone. He looked to be around 13 years old, which always did make Tai wonder if the employers for the music industry were paedophiles for hiring potential artists at such a young age (though, then again there were child actors plus there's Michael Jackson…), with large blonde spikey hair, and cheerful-looking blue eyes which reminded Tai of the ocean. He wore a bright red collared shirt with some buckles on it, a cravat over it, a pair of white gloves, red pants with a strap around his right leg - close to the hip - which was holding the mic before. He also had a white coat, white boots that are pointed at the tips, and a white and golden hat. He also had a golden earing in one ear that looks like a sun and another that looked like the moon. Honestly, he just looked WAY too bright if anyone asked him, like if someone of the middle ages was here dressed to a weeding, just brighter and his presence screams energy like few Tai have ever seen before. His hair couldn't be seen due to the hat, but two bangs framed his face in golden colour and his sun-tanned skin looked healthy as well.

"HEY GUYS! YOU ALL DOING GOOD TODAY?!" He yelled, the sound so great that the seats trembled and the audience shock all around, his smile widened as the crowd was shouting. "GOOD! TODAY I AM HERE AS A WARM-UP FOR THE AMAZING GIRLS OF ZWEI WING, BUT WHY NOT TRY AND SHOW THEM HOW AN UPSTART CAN RISE TO THE TOP!? THAT IS WHY, TODAY I WILL YOU ALL A SONG THAT WILL GET YOUR BOIL BOILING TO THE LIMIT AND BUSTING WITH ENERGY! WHO IS WITH ME!?"

The crowd cheered again, and I could only think that this guy knows how to animate a crowd but is very loud. Does he really need to shout at the mic all the time? It is like he too is excited about today.

"WELL, IF EVERYONE IS READY LET'S DO THIS!"

(OST: Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu, Opening 2 - Sky Peace)

_If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain_

_It started to rain, but I started my journey_

_Even when I dried the clothes that got wet, it just got wet again_

_This emptiness that I feel inside my heart_

_The noise I hear is caused by the mistake I made back in the day_

_Anything that I want to protect_

_Ends up going away from me_

_In this whole unorganized chaos, I kept believing_

_It taught me the bond of friendship that wouldn't break_

_In the far future, I want to carry this feeling with me_

_And become the best version of myself_

_You taught me a very important thing_

_That I can be strong for the things that are important to me_

_Are you looking at me? Don't close your eyes_

_This is me, make sure you're looking_

_Never Give up! Stand up! Hands up!_

_High! High!_

_There were many times that I nearly gave up_

_But you kept grabbing my hand_

_You were there_

_Because you were there_

_I can overcome any hardships_

_With you, I can overcome them_

During the song, Tai watched in silence, yet wide eyed and in awe, as he saw the dude pretty much dance throughout the stage, switching between breakdance and tap dancing whilst linking them together with flips, twists and spins all in one well-practiced choreography. The way he sung with such joy, passion and soul like he poured everything which ever defined him as a person into it, rendered him speechless. Not like the crowd shared his response, since they hooted and hollered like hyenas mixed with drug addicts on a pleasure high. Even Chad was smiling to himself, bobbing his head to the song with happiness and excitement radiating from him, to which it even caused Tai himself to smirk a little. 'Heh… so this is Golden Sun live, huh…?' the male thought, analysing the guy intently and concluding within his mind. 'Not bad I'll say, I can definitely see why people like him so much…'

**[The Monkey... Not… Important…]**

Just then though, Tai's eyes widened, and a slight gasp escaped his lips, his form tensing up when he heard a loud, booming and INHUMAN voice speaking RIGHT into his ear. It sounded so close that he swore that it came from right next to him, but when Tai glanced about the teen couldn't find any source of black flames or the dragon at all. He didn't hear its voice again either, so was he hallucinating about it? No, that couldn't be right. 'Geez, I try to get away from that mess, but here it is following me wherever I go. What the hell does that thing want with me, anyways…?!' the teen exclaimed in his mind.

"Tai."

"Hm?"

Glancing over to his friend, Tai saw the look of concern behind the hair covered eyes Chad sported. "You ok?" he asked him. "You tensed up just now."

"Ah, yeah I'm good. Just been… a, little bit off recently. Don't worry, its no big deal." Tai responded with an assuring smile and a confident gleam in his eye. Chad didn't look too convinced, but by this point the song had ended and everyone was giving Golden Sun a huge round of applause, so Chad simply took his friend at his word and turned his attention back to the singer. Tai did the same thing, although his confident look got replaced with a concerned/confused one as he continued to ponder this mystery. He could no longer enjoy the Concert the same way anymore, not with the potential for that Dragon to appear again. And at such close range, too, was there anywhere where he could be away from it? Unbeknownst to him, for a brief moment his Necklace's jewel flashed red with a slitted pupil in the centre, before vanishing once again after it appeared.

By the time the song ended, everyone howled like a pack of wolves, almost at levels of volume where even a deaf person could hear them as clear as crystal. The crowd's livelihood compared to the beginning, skyrocketed to a point where they might end up going into a wild frenzy from all the adrenaline surging through their veins. Seeing this, the Idol raised his right fist into the air and held the Microphone in his left, cheerfully bellowing through it. "THANK YOU, ALL OF YOU! YOU'RE ALL A GREAT AUDIENCE!" His words caused the crowd to increase in their cheering, making his grin go all the wider. "HAHAHA! NOW KNOW THIS: THIS SONG IS DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO WANT TO REACH THE PINNACLE YET DON'T KNOW HOW! TAKE THIS TO HEART, ANYONE CAN REACH THE TOP IF THEY PUT IN THE EFFORT! I'LL BE GOING NOW BUT KEEP THAT UP FOR WHEN THE STARS OF THE SHOW COME UP TO PLAY, WHATS SAY YOU LADIES AND GENTS?!" He yelled into the mike, holding it out which prompted another unified roar of approval from the Crowd. With each of them in high spirits, Sun gave them a two-fingered salute before hopping off the stage and heading backstage.

* * *

Once he had reached the backstage, Sun's smile remained on his features as he hummed happily to himself, strapping the mike to his waist. "Man, that was great as usual…" he remarked happily, humming a small tune under his breath whilst he walked. As he did so, the teen stopped when he came across two girls whom sat on a bench together clad in large cloaks which concealed their appearances. What gave their genders and identities away though, was the fact that their faces and some of their hair had been exposed. With one having crimson hair and darker red eyes and the other having blue hair and matching eyes. Further details remained unknown for the time being since the cloaks didn't cover anything else, but Sun didn't need to bother with that. He already knew who these two were in the first place, after all. "Yo there!" He called out, getting their attention after the redhead had just finished consoling the blunette about something. "Guess Zwei Wing's going to shoot up in popularity now. Looks like the crowd's easily waiting for you two."

The redhead smirked back at him, a look of competitiveness shining in her eyes as she looked him up and down. "So, you're the Golden Sun guy, huh? Gotta say, not a bad performance there…" she commented, and she was being honest there. As someone with high renown in the Music Industry, she had heard and watched some of the concerts that Sun had sung at, and she had to admit that he was a decent singer. He definitely knew how to keep the crowd entertained, so she could see how he had risen up the ranks so quickly despite being… well, a rookie pretty much compared to them who had been in this industry for a long ass time. Of course, the guy wasn't as good as herself and her singing partner, but honestly that was a given due to how they became Idols in the first place. "But rest assured that Zwei Wing doesn't need any posts to jump off of, we can fly anywhere we want whenever we want. Right, Tsubasa?"

"Hm!" Tsubasa, the blunette, answered her partner whilst nodding in resolution and returning the soft gaze her partner gave her. "Like Kanade said, as long as we're together, we can fly anywhere we chose." She proclaimed. Tsubasa, like Kanade, had also heard and attended some of her rival artist's concerts to scope out the potential competition (although Kanade had been the one to urge her into it) and found that he actually had some skill in that department. She wouldn't go so far as to be as prideful as her partner and say that he had no chance of surpassing them, since what they did had a lot more to it than whatever Sun did. In her eyes, he was a TRUE music artist whilst she and Kanade were… more than that.

Sun chuckled at their words, grinning toothily which showed his pearly white teeth, teeth which glinted at them like sun rays. "Heh, well you got me there, Zwei Wing's definitely a tough hurdle to get across, but trust me I'll be on the same playing field as you ladies. Believe it." He proclaimed, not at all phased by their slightly taunting words. Well, it was more of Kanade doing the taunting whilst Tsubasa followed along like a lovesick puppy, but then again it was cute, so Sun didn't complain. Tsubasa honestly reminded him of someone who he'd known… before things happened which skewered her perspective forever. "Anyways, gotta jet, got some business elsewhere, have a great concert eh?"

"Heh, you bet!" Kanade called out whilst she ad Tsubasa left to go prepare for their entrance to the Concert, leaving Sun alone.

Said male just watched them head off until they were out of sight, before turning away and heading off. 'Heh, some funny characters those two…' Sun thought to himself, smiling fondly as he left through the Concert's back entrance, where he saw someone waiting for him by leaning by a wall, looking down at a magazine in a bored fashion. His eyes, upon seeing her, brightened up considerably although his smile when he approached her turned slightly strained as he greeted her. "Yo, Chris, you managed to get here alright?" he greeted, making the girl look up at him and showcase her purple eyes.

Upon seeing him, Chris let out an annoyed huff as she folded the Magazine, then tossed it to the side, irritably responding to him. "Hmph, took you long enough, Sun." She then shook her head before levelling a glare his way. Yet, behind that glare one could see a myriad of different emotions, too many to properly identify them plus the glare did its job of hiding them well. "What, you forget what we're doing here in light of flirting around?" she questioned sternly, acting somewhat like a scolding parent to her unruly child, which also served to stop Sun from peering past her angry facade.

Well, this girl Chris was always like this, ever since the day everything went to hell for them, so Sun couldn't blame her. She never did like it whenever he went and talked with his fans, and though he had his suspicions why that was, things between them didn't allow him to query with her about them. His brow twitched instinctively at the reminder of their mission, though, as he soon gave the girl a reply. "Yeah, I got it don't worry. I do my part and then you do yours, right?" he responded, getting a 'tch' sound from her in return.

"Well, they're starting now, so I'm going to my post. You do your damn job and I'll finish it off before we can finally leave this damned hellhole of a place." Chris stated, just barely holding back the urge to snarl in disgust when she heard the singing of the two Idols beginning back on the stage. The moment it had started she had the urge to utterly vomit in revulsion, anything to do with music was something which she would abhor for the rest of her life, till her dying breath. This had been her vow ever since that day, that day which everything had been taken from her: her happiness, her peaceful life, everything.

Watching Chris walk off, her hands clenched into fists with her form practically OOZING malicious intent as if it were a sludge flooding out of her, Sun's eyes darkened, and his lips twisted into a concerned frown. One he had been making quite a lot whenever he had seen his friend in these last couple of years. 'Damnit… Why? Why can't I reach her? Why is she keeping me at arm's length…? No, I know the reason, I know it all too well…' the blonde teen thought to himself, glancing to the side and gritting his teeth when unwanted memories which had plagued him for years now resurfaced, almost as if they were toying with him, mocking his resolve. 'I guess… Chris may have a point, that nobody can truly understand one another with Songs… cause no matter how hard I sing for her, she's never going to open up to me… not like when we were kids…' he thought further, clenching his fists.

A second later, Sun took a breath and calmed down, letting his fists unclench as he kept his eyes closed. Then, he opened them, and a determined stare shone from within as he opened his mouth. 'Even so, I'll not stop trying! I may not be able to connect with Chris right now, but that won't stop me! Whatever I do in the future, I'm doing it for the sake of my friend!' Memories faded away as he sung, feeling his power start to surge from his singing. He could sense the Phonic Gain within him rising rapidly as he sung, being absorbed into some machinery which he knew would funnel it to his target, or rather, THEIR target. The moment he begun his action, the earrings and necklace on said body parts also began to react, giving off a faint glow as if to console their wielder. As he sung, a small pang of sadness erupted in his chest when he idly thought about the deaths and casualties this event will cause, just like it had done before, but Sun forced himself not to think about it. After all, he had to do this for Chris's sake, and like he'd mentioned before if it was for Chris then he would do anything. It was why he had this power in the first place after all…

* * *

At first, everything had been super merry and enjoyable for everyone back in the Stadium… then it switched to a hellish nightmare the next.

During the Song being Sung by Zwei Wing, Tai had quickly gotten the feeling that something was not right. He didn't know why or how he had even predicted it before it had happened, but all of a sudden, his body had tensed up, and he had quickly warned Chad that he was getting a bad feeling. He'd done so by pulling the guy down to his level with his left arm on his shoulder and yelling into his ear so the guy could hear him, all the while the audience remained blissfully unaware. Due to his friend knowing him for long enough to listen to him whenever his instincts told him things like this, Chad had nodded in acceptance and positioned himself to act quickly if necessary, something which Tai himself had been able to do himself. In addition, deep in his gut Tai also got the feeling that the 'dragon' which had been plaguing him all this time was active… somehow, since he didn't see it around.

That, however, soon became the least of his problems when, without any kind of warning, the entire Stadium started to tremble as if it were hit by a violent earthquake. An earthquake which originated from the bottom of the Stadium where a huge explosion occurred, one which had enough height to rival a single-story building. Startled cries and screams flew throughout the Audience, quickly catching the attention of the two Idols whom also stopped Singing due to the shaking. Unlike them though, a minority of the population here even fell onto the ground from losing their balance whilst sometimes dragging others down with them in an unintentional ass pull type of play. Tai and Chad, however, weren't a part of this as they remained standing, having kept their balance by keeping their stances wide and their arms spread out to handle the shifting of their centre of gravity.

"Hm?!"

"Not good!"

Both boys made their own sounds at this turn of events, and when the shaking stopped… they only got a few seconds' worth of reprieve thanks to the arrival of some… uninvited guests.

**[Prey… incoming]**

Again, Tai heard that voice once more, but this time he had other priorities, so he ignored it. Several large sounds like aerial jets roaring through the skies reached their ears, causing everyone alongside them to look upwards to see multiple projectiles of an… alien-like nature to descend towards the stadium centre. Upon seeing them, Tai and Chad's eyes shrunk as recognition and panic started settling inside their chests… something which could be said for the rest of the population when they saw a blue large, four-legged creature appeared in the centre.

"Noise!"

"kyaaaa! Ruuuuuuun!"

Their collective response was for them to run and run like they were being chased by the hounds of hell. As a result, the panic quickly began to flee for their lives, heading towards the various exits in a wild, frantic manner whilst tripping over one another in a desperate bid to avoid the fate of what happens when one is caught by them. In response to their movements, the large blue noise quickly spewed out this toxic-looking green sludge, which quickly formed a set of orange humanoid Noise as well as many slug-like ones which gave chase to the fleeing humans. Those that got caught by the noise screamed and howled with tears streaming down their faces as their bodies, along with the Noise's own, gradually turned black and brittle, before disintegrating a moment later. Men, women, children, it didn't matter, as the Noise didn't discriminate. Any who got unfortunate enough to end up in their grasp were disintegrated into nothingness without hesitation or discretion. Up above, several green Noise shaped somewhat like birds flew about, picking out targets before shifting into spear-like formations and shooting downwards, impaling those unlucky enough to be their targets.

* * *

Whilst the commotion went on, it took a fair while to notice it for certain participants for this incident (Chad, Tai, Tsubasa and Kanade), but they soon noticed some... moments, where the Noise began behaving... rather sluggishly in terms of movement, sort of like victims of a vampire attack. In those moments it became slightly easier for them to slice the Noise apart. It wasn't very noticeable regardless, so each of them considered it as just some strange trait that these Noise possessed and soon forgot about it in favour of either defeating them or just surviving whilst getting others to safety.

Unbeknownst to these people, standing atop the edge of the Stadium turned out to be someone else, he was wearing a unique armor and was standing there in position to run away if needed but in his hands a gourd was pulling away the energy of the Noise that he targeted, slowing them down when needed to ensure that the highest amount possible of people would manage to run away.

"... Yeah, I know we could be doing more to help but you also know why we need to be stealthy and not show up ... yeah, I know you hate to not be the center of attention, I figured that one out long ago. You don't know how to shut up anyway ... Yeah, yeah, if we are compatible to our extent I guess you could say the same about me, but this is not for us, it is for her. Now shut up, I need to focus or those guys down there are gonna die."

This would only be the beginning too…

* * *

'This is bad! Everyone's so panicked and terrified that me and Chad aren't able to help them as much as we could!' Tai thought whilst standing by one of the walkways to an exit that the stadium had, shouting in vain for people to use it before getting turned into Noise chow. Throughout the chaos, him and his friend had given one another looks, nodded in unison, before hurrying off to guide people towards the exits so they could make a quicker getaway. By no means were they fearless either, the exact opposite, both of them just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible to avoid getting chowed down on (especially Tai, whom had unfortunately found himself avoiding way too many close calls with the aerial Noise for comfort) by their adversaries, but if they didn't do anything then a whole lot more people would be butchered. Families would lose their loved ones, and friends would be lost forever. Plus, it wasn't like they were cowards, if anything calling them foolish idiots would NOT be an understatement. It wasn't much, but it was at least something, plus Tai and Chad had been in enough Gang fights to have some adequate evasion skills, so as long as they didn't get surrounded the two of them could avoid getting grabbed by their enemies. 'I can hear the sounds of fighting from the centre of this place, but its best to just focus on my task right now…'

That had been his thought before idly glancing throughout the stands in search of survivors who WEREN'T moving their asses. However, the moment he laid eyes on the stands, he quickly noticed one survivor throughout this whole mess who he QUICKLY recognized. The brown hair, the similarly coloured eyes, the shoulder strapped bag which looked new, her general frame, Tai couldn't imagine it as anyone else. 'Its HER! That's Hibiki from before! She was here too?! Ugh, focus Tai, she's not moving! She has to get out of there now!"' he screamed inside his head, quickly rushing over across the stands to her location. Several aerial Noise flew down to try and impale him, but Tai instinctively hopped from one stand to another at the last second, nearly losing his balance a few times from the momentum but not breaking his stride for even an instant. He had no idea why Hibiki wasn't hauling ass right now, but he'd be damned if he watched her die here! He'd not let that fate befall her, hell no!

'Please, let me make it! I won't allow myself to fail again! Never again!'

As Tai thought this, his heart thumping wildly in his chest as he dodged one Noise after another, the teen failed to notice how each strike destabilized the section of the Stands him and Hibiki occupied, as evident by the cracks along and up the structure. "Hibiki!" the teen called out as he approached her, catching the girl by surprise as she glanced at him. "You got a death wish or something?! Run, girl, Ruuuuuun!" Panicked, Tai unintentionally referenced a meme without calling Hibiki anything vulgar when he noticed the space around her quickly giving in. His skin turned pale at the sight, so he quickly hightailed it on over, pushing as much strength into his legs as he possibly could... but it wasn't enough.

"Kya!"

"Hibiki!"

The girl cried out as the ground beneath her started to fall after it shattered, reflexively shooting a hand up into the air. As she fell, she quickly noticed Tai jumping down after her and, like a seasoned sky faller, quickly caught up to her position. "Grab my hand!" he yelled, holding his hand out to her in which Hibiki frantically caught it, allowing the male teen to pull her in and shift themselves so he would take the brunt of the fall. The fall itself didn't last too long, but the moment Tai's back hit the ground below, he barely bit back a curse of pain as he came into contact with the shattered ground, spending a moment there shuddering as he tried to cope with the white hot flames of pain which circulated around his back.

**[Prey... incoming...]**

Just then, he heard the sounds of footsteps rapidly approaching them alongside the voice, and seemingly Hibiki did too (though the voice was likely only something Tai could hear) since they both looked at the direction they came from at the same time, only to notice that several Noise were rapidly advancing towards them. This caused Hibiki's face to drain and her features to morph into ones of horror, knowing that her impending death was coming until she suddenly found herself forced onto her feet with a pair of masculine arms around her stomach. Looking behind her, Hibiki found the grey eyes hidden behind some familiar glasses bearing into her, a flash of recognition hitting her when she recalled who they belonged to. "You...!"

"Don't just stand there, Hibiki! Go, get to the exit! I'll cover you!"

Tai's words shook through Hibiki's entire body with how much force and urgency got packed into them, causing her to shakily nod her head in response. "O-Okay!" she exclaimed, instinctively sensing that Tai wouldn't hear any other responses. As such, she broke into a mad dash towards the closest exit she could see, with Tai hot on her heels as he eyed the rapidly approaching Noise with a sense of urgency and disdain. Idly, he glanced to the side and noticed several girls, girls he quickly recognized as Tsubasa and Kanade, fighting these creatures whilst clad in some... rather unique looking Armour/skin tight suit mixes, the former holding a Katana and the other a large spear. Plus... was Kanade singing right now? 'How did I not notice this earlier? Must have been too focused on evacuating the others with Chad...'

He didn't have time to think more on this nor did he have time to worry about his friend's safety right now, not when he noticed that several humanoid Noise were rapidly catching up to them. 'Shit, just how bad can this get?! On second thought, I'll belay that I don't wanna jinx us! If I don't do something, then Hibiki will end up like the other victims around here!' Tai thought, glancing at a couple piles of ashes scattered throughout the area. So, what kind of play could he make here? How could he make sure that Hibiki managed to make it out of this alive?

It became pretty clear to him what he had to do, though, and let it be said that Tai wasn't one to back down from a challenge.

"Oi, ya ugly bitches!"

'I am SO going to feel this tomorrow if I survive this...' he couldn't help but think as Tai turned towards the stands, all the while diverting from the path which lead to Hibiki and calling out to the following Noise. "Want some prey?! I'm right fucking here, so come on!" he bellowed, rushing towards the stands. Although there was a wall separating it from the ground he currently ran on, Tai had noticed some rubble piled up near it from a remnant Noise, so he figured he could use that to get into the stands and slow down their advance enough to run a few circles around them, get them disoriented enough so that he could jump back down and regroup with Hibiki. That was his plan at least, and by GOD he hoped it worked... Was he really so eager to die?

That question vanished from his mind when, seemingly, the Noise reacted to him and switched targets to him, all three rushing towards him with speeds which could rival Olympic athletes. Seeing this, Tai cursed under his breath as he focused his thoughts on the rapidly approaching walls. 'Shit, they've gotten faster all of a sudden! Did I underestimate their speed?!' the teen couldn't help but think, and as he neared the wall Tai practically FELT the incoming Noise since they had gotten within 6 steps away from him. There was only one chance for this plan to work, and he thought this one up on the fly since it seemed obvious that the other one wouldn't be as effective no more. As such, Tai planted one leg on the wall and made a few steps up it as if he were running along a horizontal surface, but when he felt gravity begin to kick in, he planted his foot onto the wall and propelled himself off it, far too fast for the Noise to grab him or even to stop themselves in time.

As such, the moment he propelled himself over them, Tai saw how the Noise slammed into the wall, letting the rest of it collapse on top of them. Flipping himself through the air, Tai landed on a crouch, quickly raising his head to view his handiwork... and he will admit, he felt quite proud of himself in this moment. 'Fuck, I can't believe that actually worked...' he thought... but then Tai face palmed when he remembered something said on the news about these things. 'Wait, I forgot they could phase through solid objects, fuck me...' No sooner had he thought that, did Tai notice the said Noise already beginning to phase out of the pile of rubble he had tried trapping them in, so any and all thoughts of trying to fight them fled from his brain, making it so that Tai quickly began fleeing back towards Hibiki. Although he had been unable to take care of them due to forgetting important details like an idiot, Tai DID at least buy time for a distraction.

Now he just needed to find a way to save his own skin before he joined the casualty list.

Just as the Noise made to give chase to their elusive prey, suddenly a large blue slash wave flew at them horizontally, bisecting the Noise at the waist and making them disintegrate into nothingness. 'Huh?! What the...?' The teen wondered as he paused his running, frowning before turning to where the slash came from to find Tsubasa to be the source, the Katana in her right hand reverting o a regular one instead a larger curved scimitar-like weapon. "You...!" he exclaimed in surprise as she jogged up to him.

"You thee, are you ok?" she asked him with worry and urgency in her tone. Throughout the battle with all these Noise, Tsubasa had glanced towards the stands a few times and had seen what Tai had done for some of the civilians, risking his own life so he could get them to safety. That and his ability to dodge their attacks and attempts to grab him reminded her heavily of their commander in some ways. What he had just done there with the Noise to buy time may have been foolish on his part, but considering he was just an ordinary human it was all he could do. "You should run now, me and Kanade will hold these guys off, there's nobody else so get yourself to safety." she urged him.

"I would, just as long as-"

BOOM!

Whatever Tai made to respond to her words with vanished in his throat when a loud explosion sound drew their attention. The source turned out to be Kanade, as the Swarm of Noise proved itself to be nearly endless assaulted Kanade from all directions. As much as she sung, launching special attacks one after another and avoiding strikes from her opponents like a boss (something which amazed him and made him a bit jealous if he were honest), Kanade didn't look like she would hold out for much longer. Both of them could see THAT outcome clearly even if one of them had no clue as to their true profession. 'No, Kanade's not had any LINKER, so she can't go all out here! If things progress like this she won't last without me! I gotta help her!' she thought, making to move in to support her partner when some of the Noise detached from the group and rushed towards her, pinning her down and halting her progress.

Seeing this caused Tai to grit his teeth in furious anguish, loathing himself for not being able to damage the Noise like they apparently could with those skimpy Armour things. This felt like a major blow to his pride as a man and as a fighter that he couldn't do more to help. It also reflected on how powerless he had been ever since the whole probation thing started, yet there was nothing he could do on that front. Instead, Tai tried to shift onto another front where he had a little more ability in, making sure Hibiki got to safety before hightailing it himself. At least he had made some progress there thanks to distracting the Noise long enough for her to get away, something he put more solace into than he would care to admit as he raced towards Hibiki's position...

Or rather, that had been his thought process before he saw Hibiki on the ground, a puddle of blood forming beneath her.

His eyes widened in sheer horror at the sight. 'No!' he screamed mentally, legging it over to Hibiki to see if she was still breathing. Tai, for the first time in a long while, felt genuine dread and worry over another's safety rather than his own or Chad's, and he did NOT like it. Apparently he wasn't the only one whom had noticed Hibiki's sorry state, for Kanade managed to beat him to Hibiki's side, quickly kneeling beside her and picking her up by wrapping her arms around her torso to move her into a sitting position. Pieces of her Spear seemed to have been destroyed as the weapon lay on the ground near her, forgotten for the time being. "Hey! Don't die! Don't give up on life!" she yelled, trying to get a response out of the girl.

Slowly, her efforts proved successful as, whilst extremely weak from her near-fatal injury, Hibiki's eyes slowly opened from their previously closed states. Although they looked unfocused and practically on death's door, Kanade saw this, and heaved a sigh of relief knowing that the girl could still be saved. However, that didn't change the situation she had found herself in, with her options dwindling and time being precious, Kanade saw few options to solve the situation... without risking her life that was.

It was then that she noticed someone else approaching them, and looked towards the footsteps to see Tai running up to her, his eyes shining with worry upon seeing her state. "Shit, damnit looks like she's not going to last very long...!" he muttered, glancing at Hibiki's injury and mentally running some calculations in his head. It was only then that he noticed that he wasn't alone, and glanced over to Kanade, his urgency stopping him from completely examining her and making him focus on the situation at hand. "Are there any authorities coming here?"

"Yeah, don't worry help's going to be on their way here shortly." Kanade answered, nodding just as to ease the boy's worries. Her instincts had been what had told her of this, not to mention past experiences with this kind of thing. She didn't have any proof physically, so the boy would just have to trust her for now... though, if this situation were any different, she'd totally check him out. He looked kind of tsubasa's age, though with how dishevelled his appearance looked she wasn't completely sure. Plus, Kanade had caught sight of him leading the Noise away like some suicidal moron, only to trap them under a layer of debris, alongside some other feats he had pulled during this whole attack, so she refrained from getting him to leave here. He was capable enough from what she had seen so far, something which served as the final nail in the coffin for her last resort. "Anyways, you stay here with the girl, I'll go deal with the Noise." she told him.

Looking back at her when she said this, Tai tried to say something back to her, but he stopped upon seeing her gaze. It was a gaze he knew all too well, the gaze of resignation. He'd seen it a couple times growing up, they were the eyes of someone who'd given up on trying to change their fate and thus, would accept the ultimate version: death. He HATED those eyes, he hated them with a passion as they implied that there was no other option for them to go off on, no other path they could walk. Tai could NEVER accept such a thing, he refused to believe it even existed, and he had clout to say this due to how he grew up.

Whilst he had been thinking this, Kanade stood up and grabbed the weapon she had previously tossed aside in her mad rush to stir Hibiki's consciousness her Spear, which looked like it was one step away from disintegrating just like the Noise did upon death or when they clutched a human. 'Whelp, I guess this is it...' she thought to herself as she walked slowly towards the remainder of the Noise, the larger ones already replenishing their ranks which they had lost throughout this battle which only served to reinforce Kanade's decision. It had been made perfectly clear to her that right now, if she didn't do this, then she and Tsubasa would end up being overrun and killed off by these bastards, something which Kanade REFUSED to let happen no matter what. 'Once, I wished for a time where I could sing my heart and soul out...Look, we have a big audience today.'

She eyed the noise with a resigned but determined gaze, similar to a Valkyrie of the Norse gods about to embark on her final assignment, despite knowing that it would be her last day in existence. Kanade had that same expression as her thoughts continued almost like they didn't follow her command anymore. 'I won't hold back... I have a great gift for yo all today... the Final Song...'

Whilst Tsubasa, with tears streaming down her face at knowing what her partner looked like she was about to do, screamed at her to stop her actions, Tai himself watched on with wide eyes.

He couldn't believe it, even though he knew little of what was truly going on, just by looking at her posture allowed him to figure out that whatever this action of hers was, the action itself would likely kill Kanade, something which got helped by how he saw her Spear breaking apart gradually. He refused to believe this was happening, didn't someone do this so he could live on long ago? How long had it been since then? No matter, the sheer helplessness that he had felt back then as the one person who ever truly gave a damn about him got taken away due to circumstances Tai had yet to uncover even after all this time, felt the very same as what he felt right now.

He felt useless.

He felt POWERLESS.

He hated it.

He hated it with a FUCKING PASSION!

Surely there must be SOMETHING he could do, right? Was this all he could truly do? Was he really just this wimpy after everything he had gone through? Tai felt so DISGUSTED with himself, this was pathetic, pathetic, PATHETIC!

**[At last... It is time.]**

"?!"

* * *

Just then, Tai's eyes widened once more when he heard the voice which had been with him for the last eek or so. However, unlike back then this had been the clearest it had ever been, not to mention he could literally FEEL its presence on a level he had never felt before. All around him, time seemed to slow to a crawl, everything around him no longer having any relevance. His attention remained solely focused on in front of him, where Tai saw black flames shoot out the ground 4 feet away from him and form into the black fiery, red eyed dragon he remembered. It leered at him, almost as if it was mocking him as it opened it's mouth, speaking clearly.

**[What's the matter with you? Are you simply going to watch as all this happens before your eyes? Does none of this stir you in any way? Death awaits these maidens if you do nothing. Was the decision you made, along with all the others, all mistaken then?]**

Upon the creature asking him this whilst raising its fiery arms to the seemingly frozen surroundings, Tai quickly remembered some things. Things which thanks to his prior situation he had forgotten. Things such as the reason why he had even gotten a year's worth of probation, who he had lost along the way and everything else. He remembered everything he had went through to reach this point, before the questions it had asked him reared their ugly heads again. Once they did, Tai's eyes hardened from their stunned state and became two pools of infernal fury. A spark ignited within his chest, becoming a searing and chaotic bonfire which refused to be extinguished by the severity of his situation. "Fuck no, none of my actions were mistakes! Not to me, and they never will!" he roared back at the Dragon, his eyes staring defiantly into its own hollow red ones. "If I had to replay my lifetime, none of those choices would change! Should I try to change them then that would mean I regret being who I am, that I challenged my own ideals! That's the worst thing a man do to themselves, so there, you have my answer!"

No matter what, Tai would always take responsibility for the actions that he took, it was his resolve and his determination which helped him move forward in life. If he doubted himself for even a second, then he would no longer be able to call himself a true man, for real men move forwards with their heads held high, and whilst they may make some dumb decisions in life the ability to take responsibility and bear those burdens was what separated them from the whiny boys who didn't know what to do with their lives. It had been his philosophy which helped Tai make his current lifestyle, so he wouldn't be forgetting it now, nor would he ever forget it. He had gone through too much hell to get where he was today to forget about HOW he'd survived in the first place.

**[… Very well, I have heeded your resolve.]**

After hearing Tai's answer, the Dragon nodded seemingly to itself, as if confirming something that it had wanted to know. Tai, seeing this, wondered what it was trying to accomplish, and whilst doing that he slowly got to his feet, stumbling bit and wincing from the pain his back was in, but he pushed through. Pretty much proved to the Dragon that he would follow through with his word right then and there. At that moment, though, Tai's eyes bulged open with his mouth falling downwards when he felt a pulse shoot through him, followed by an infernally blazing pain which exploded inside of him without warning. He screamed, howled and writhed in agony, gripping himself as if trying to keep something inside whilst unaware of he black flames beginning to form as a pool around him.

Falling onto his knees, Tai howled and gasped, feeling like something was constricting around his throat and stopping him from breathing no matter how hard his lungs pumped. He fell onto his side whilst trying to cope with the searing pain coursing through his system as if it were his livelihood, unable to fight against it. The flames which pooled beneath him slowly rose upwards, as if trying to embrace him whilst small gaps between them allowed him to see the features of the fiery dragon. Features which... looked like ones of a pleased person, like something good had happened after a long time.

**[Excellent, it looks like you're embracing it well. Now then, there is only one thing left before things can begin once again. Vow to me, human.]**

When the Dragon spoke, the flames gathered together beneath the black haired male, who looked like he had begun struggling to remain conscious at this point, like all the oxygen in his lungs had left him in seconds. He soon fell to the ground beneath the flames, as if he were giving up his struggle to resist them although both he and the Dragon knew this to not be the case. If anything, it seemed like the exact opposite, even as the flames shot streams of themselves through the air and began entering his body, making his already hoarse screams wreck his throat even further. They went through each of his open wounds, in-between the eye sockets, into his open mouth and shot straight up his nostrils. Pretty much anywhere which could provide an opening for the flames, it used and it would NOT let the teen free himself from their grasp...

Not when their maker had been planning for this moment for so long, now.

**[I am Thou, Thou art I. Thou who art willing to go to any lengths to achieve thy own justice. Call upon my power, human, and UNLEASH YOUR RAGE! Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thy own, though thou shall be eternally chained... to HELL ITSELF!] **

* * *

BA-BUMP!

A pulse shot through his body, bringing Tai back into the real world... though, changes already began taking place within his being that he remained unaware of. His hair shadowed his eyes as he slowly kneeled down, gently picking Hibiki up by her waist and resting her against some rubble. "Don't worry, Hibiki…" the teen spoke softly as he became aware of the changes, feeling them applying themselves to his body. What was going on? What was happening to him? No such questions appeared in his mind, his focus solely directed towards his objective: DESTROY THE NOISE. If he didn't do this soon, then not only would Kanade die, but the Noise might survive and continue their rampage. That had to be avoided, so it was time that he acted like a real man and take the stage himself.

BA-BUMP!

Slowly taking a step forward, and another, and another, Tai closed in on Kanade's position, his eyes still shadowed by his hair whilst his right arm involuntarily rose to his neck. It then clutched the necklace there, which also had begun emitting a REALLY powerful crimson glow as if it could light up an entire city bathed in darkness, and yanked it off, holding it in his hand. By the time he had about 10 steps away from the redhead whom had been in the middle of doing some song, she stopped upon noticing his approach. "H-Hey, what are you doing?! I told you to stay with the girl-!" she tried to say, but as if he didn't hear her Tai walked by her, and the moment he did Kanade would have made to grab his shoulder to beat some sense into him...

If only a MASSIVE pressure didn't suddenly come out of nowhere, blindside her and SMASH down on her first.

"Guh!" She cringed as she got forced downwards into the ground with a mighty SLAM sound, heavy gasps escaping her mouth like she had just put a car onto her back or something whilst sweat poured down from her forehead like a waterfall. 'Wh...what.. what the hell... is this...?!' she screamed in her mind, her eyes shrinking and trembling the combination of her incomplete Song as well as this pressure doing wonders in taking away her ability to remain conscious. As much as she tried to keep herself awake, the pressure eventually succeeded in overpowering her will, and the last thing she saw before falling unconscious for the remainder of the battle would be Tai's form gradually approaching the Noise. 'This guy...'

Kanade wasn't the only one who had this pressure born on her, either. In fact, the ENTIRE STADIUM got put under this pressure, pieces of the building being thrown off it to the ground below whilst most if not ALL of the Noise got forced onto the ground. The humanoid ones got reduced to kneeling though whilst the larger four legged ones felt the ground beneath them collapse from the sudden weight forced upon them, the slug-like ones now rendered unable to move. Out of all of them, Tsubasa remained conscious yet kneeled like the rest, in a similar state to her partner before she had fallen unconscious. 'This... this is...!' Shock rushed through her system at feeling this pressure, as well as the fact that it FREAKING STOPPED HER FROM MOVING EVEN WHILST IN HER SYMPHOGEAR! How the heck was something like that a thing?! She tried to move to her friend's side to see if she was alright, part of her dreading what she might see concerning the nature of that song of hers, but the pressure bore down on her harder, stopping any and all movement period.

The only thing she could do, was glance towards the source of it, which turned out to be the young man whom had stepped in front of Kanade's unconscious form whilst holding something out in front of him. Beneath him, one could see a pool of flames, blacker than the darkest abyss, forming beneath him whilst whatever he held in his hand kept emitting a pure crimson glow. The sight caused her to tremble, though not nearly as violently as the Noise did, they practically acted like scared rabbits concerning whatever seemed to be coming, something which baffled her all the more.

Then, came the words that would change EVERYTHING:

**"Incinerate all to ashes... VRITRA!"**

Finally, everything became black.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Sorry bout the cliffhanger guys, but I feel its necessary to do so since the chapter itself was getting a bit large, nearly two full chapters worth of content was put into this you know. Anyways, a few things to point out about this chapter:**

**First, it introduces properly the second Male OC of this fanfic (created and designed by King Carlos whose also been helping me with scene ideas so shout out to him), Sun. This guy's going to be the brighter of the two characters, both in design and in personality if you haven't already realized yet. He's going to be the second official main male character, if you haven't seen it already since he possesses a Synchrogear. What kind he has will be revealed at a later date, probably when him and Tai officially meet on the battlefield when Chris fights Tsubasa for the first time. However, I assure you that when he DOES come onto the scene you will NOT regret what he does. **

**Second, is Tai. As you all have seen just now he's not a man of just words he's also a man of action. Whereas everyone tried to save themselves from the Noise, he and his best bro Chad tried to help everyone get to safety (seriously, what's with the security in this concert? I get that its a large one but come on there should be at least some police or something, maybe Division 2 had some, but its grossly negligent compared to the amount of people in there). Plus, there are various details throughout these chapters which have hinted towards his backstory, something which will be revealed later. Plus, in comparison to Sun, he will be the darkness, the edgier of the two (yeah I'm an edgelord fan even in my age, bite me) if one would. Of course, once his backstory is revealed, you might think otherwise of him or you may not, its all up to you all in the end, readers.**

**Third, the thing about the dragon (Think of his voice as similar to Arsene, the persona of Akira Kurusu/Ren Amamiya, the first name's my preference honestly). Now, this is going to be an original idea of mine, one which I got inspired for when I looked at one of the reviewers for this series on youtube. The reviewer mentions how the director for symphogear also directed one of my favourite Yu Gi Oh series, 5Ds. I've only seen that one, GX, the original, and a bit of Zexal and Arc V, but 5DS is my favourite by far. There was also inspiration taken from a series I like called Persona, Persona 5 to be more precise, as in the series that one is my favourite by far with the themes of rebelling against what's wrong and the violent awakenings. In any case, this idea of mine was formed to counterbalance the existences of both the Symphogears and Faust Robes as something which is primarily worn by males due to unrevealed lore-related reasons, though a female wielder may not be impossible. **

**Lastly, this is where the plot will REALLY kick it into overdrive, folks. I'm not going to just blindly follow the plot, oh no I'm not generic enough for that, and plus I like to make originality within my fics. Want proof, then try my most popular fanfic One Eyed G Re:Birth, see how THAT fic does things. Expect some things to be different with the season one plot like different additions and scenes which weren't in the original anime, although that last one's a given since this is fanfiction. What kind of changes you ask? Well, you'll have to wait till the other chapters are ready for that information, unfortunately, but once they do show up I'll be happy to say that they will definitely be... an interesting addition to the Synchrogear world. Hope you all look forward to what I do, and remember this is my FIRST time writing a Synchrogear fic. I'm practically a fish out of water with this one, so please go easy on me. **

**Peace Out!**


	4. Chapter 4 - 2 Years Passed

**Chapter 4 – 2 years passed**

_The sounds of those infernal flames crackling the air filled his ears, causing him to growl under the breath towards the being which had started all of this in the first place. The flames burned, they burned without discrimination, creating this charcoal like smell in the air which mixed in with the heavy iron coming from the countless bloodied corpses of recently slaughtered beings, beings which he had known for a long time now and had come to call friends. Each of them lay down, scattered across a desolate plain which had once been a lush, green paradise with the very definition of a purely nature-owned land to its name. Brilliant flowers, gorgeous scenery, an all-around peaceful place… that is, before all THIS had happened. Now, none of that beauty remained, all of it having been reduced to nothing but primitive, ugly flames, charred flesh and ashes. _

_How…?_

_How did it come to this?_

_Why didn't he see this coming? _

_Was trusting someone his sin here, was THAT how this had all come about? _

_He wasn't sure of anything anymore, save for one important fact, and that was the fact that a major injustice had happened before him, and he would NOT let that slide. Utter fury quickly and ruthlessly encased his being, amongst other things such as confusion, sadness, anguish and utter loathing as he glared up towards the colossal beast of a deity, the one whom had been responsible for the massive carnage scattered all around them. The said deity had just finished taking out the rest of this comrades, the comrades whom he had formed brother and sisterly bonds with throughout his travels, promised them he would be by their side forever, only for… this to happen instead. He hadn't been able to arrive in time to save them, having just heard of the situation from a couple mortal humans whom had been this thing's worshippers. _

_"Tathagataaaaaaaaaa!" The name of this being, the massive god known as Tathagata also known as the supreme god, released itself from his lungs in a mighty war cry. The being which I once called a Godly divine entity looked down at me, being as tall as the planet itself as a testament to his supremacy, however to me he only seemed like a monster rather than a divine being. Even as it stared down at him without any expression, he just gave enough malice with his glare alone. "I have done as you asked! So why?! Why did you betray me?!" he yelled venomously, all the while hundreds of thousands of angels attacked him from all sides. They attacked and ravenously devoured the corpses of the friends that had helped him throughout all his missions like they were worth nothing more than pebbles on a cobblestone road, memories flashing through his mind of their best times together. Tears of blood and frustration fall from his face as he demanded the so-called 'supreme god' (something which now felt like vomit on his tongue) for answers._

_"... The reason?" The giant god that is higher than any mountain responded in a deadpan voice, not a single emotion visible on his face as he continues to pray for salvation even as his army savagely tore apart everyone that the monkey being below him cared for. Said being which resembled a large, white monkey held his Staff at the ready, bisecting several of the Angels which had tried attacking him from behind only to meet an early end, yet he paid them no heed, just like the god which had slaughtered his comrades right in front of him. Then, the god's face twisted into a maniacal grim for the first time in tens of thousands of years before speaking in mockery. "Because I felt like it."_

_As Tahagata, the supreme God, said that something snapped within him like rubber no longer being able to contain the strain that was his emotions running wild. As a result, the monkey king moved forth, blurring across the battleground towards my former master, now my hated and sworn enemy. He had heard of it for a while now, about how truly twisted some of the Gods could be, but he had hoped that they were simply that, rumours, and that he wouldn't incur their wrath himself. Now though, now he just didn't care anymore, he'd already lost everything at this point, so what else did he have to lose? His friends were already dead by now so even if he died today, he would make sure to take down this scumbag of a deity with him! As he approached, the monkey King's mouth twisted into a furious snarl, if a pained one as well. His body became filled with hundreds of wounds as I move towards Tahagata, his spear at the ready whilst tearing through hundreds of his minions with practiced ease. Compared to the beasts which he had fought on his journeys, this was nothing to him. Without hesitation he attacked him with a vicious bellowing roar, one which only a truly pissed off warrior could ever hope to make, and we enter combat, I create hundreds of millions of clones as we fight and he just swats me away with one movement or a blow of air._

_"Little monkey, you are on the palm of my hand and forever will be in the palm of my hand." He said derisively as their fight continued, only escalating to severe nigh cataclysmic degrees within seconds. There was a reason why mortals feared deities in their small, fragile existences, after all, and their fight intensified any mortal within hundreds of miles would have felt the raw fury of the two warring gods. However, in response to his comments, he slightly widened his eyes in surprise when a smirk with of venom spreads across the Monkey King's face._

_Something which became one of the last things he would ever see for a long time, yet when the said Monkey's voice echoed from up top. "No, I am not on your hand." he said as a clone stabbed towards one of his eyes, which he destroys promptly afterward. Not that it matters as he stepped on the side of his head. "I am above you, asshole! Now EXPAND YEOUI!" A surge of power erupted from the staff in his hands as it quickly began to grow like a rapidly extending tree. It didn't take long for it to pierce through the supreme god's head, going right through it. Not only that, the Monkey King continued unabashed, not wanting this to be the end yet. "GROW! GROW! GROW! GROW! GROW! GROW! GROW! GROW! GROW! GROW!"_

* * *

_"Do you have any idea of what you just did?" An angry god yelled._

_"How could you kill him?! No God is supposed to die, but you killed the supreme God!"_

_"You dare challenge the way things have been for millennia, mongrel?!"_

_"You are nothing!"_

_"You are trash!"_

_"You ought to die!"_

_"""""""""""""""""""Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, DIE!"""""""""""""""""""_

Opening his eyes with a startled yelp, one Sun jumped as he gave the yelp, his breathing becoming erratic whilst he held his hand over his chest. His eyes had shot open wide with their veins being visible from the edges of the eyeballs, a testament to how spooked out he had become from the experience he just had, alongside the beads of sweat on his forehead. Right now, aside from his currently rattled state of mind, he found himself being sitll heavily battered, and not just from his recent activities. The teen stood atop a jagged rock which had been part of an isolated mountain range, one which had once overlooked atop-secret storage facility. The country of which this place was located in wasn't known to him, or rather it had been mentioned sometime ago, but Sun just couldn't find it in himself to care. All he cared about was that the job needed to be done here, and that was it… well, keeping his own hands dirty so that his childhood friend didn't would be a big reason in and of itself.

"... Another dream, huh…?" Sun remarked as he eyed his surroundings warily and without much emotion, almost like he had been faking his usual cheeriness. This hadn't been the first time he had those dreams, as they occur quite frequently ever since he had obtained the Relics which his 'mother' had given him on a whim. However, in recent years it had gotten to the point where he would sometimes lose his own consciousness like someone who suffered from blackouts, bouts of short-term memory loss, only in his case he would black out to experience those dream-like things. In addition, he hesitated to even call them dreams anymore, even if they seemed to fit that description initially. Now, he didn't know WHAT to properly call them anymore, and that honestly started to freak him out a little. 'And its not like YOU will be of much help, damn banana-holic…'

**[Thanks for the compliment, I approve.]**

Rolling his eyes, Sun chose to ignore the voice echoing in the back of his mind, its tone innocently unaware of the thinly veiled sarcasm which dripped from his words like water droplets forming a puddle on the hard, unforgiving earth. If one were to describe the voice, it had this deep, masculine tone to it but with hints of mischievousness, and brutality mixed in. Kind of like a mix between a lion and cheetah's growls now that he thought about it. Still, if there was one thing which kept his dreams relevant in his mind, it was how one of them largely inspired an immense hatred for the so-called 'mother' whom had rescued him and his childhood friend from those Terrorists. The way she looked at him and Chris, he just couldn't help but think of that massive being known in his dreams as Tagathata. Just THINKING about that thing gave him chills, the cold brutality that he showed when slaughtering all those other beings with his Angelic army, the way he maniacally declared his intentions before the Monkey King whom had served him faithfully until then.

She just had that same look to her as that thing did, which did NOT sit well with him… at all.

Back to the voice side of things. Though the voice didn't take to sarcasm very well, Sun still nonetheless let out a small smile, one which didn't have much strength behind it. 'Ah well, at least we've managed to get the job done…' he thought, his smile soon vanishing as he overlooked the now desecrated military base ahead of him.

Well, one could hardly call it that anymore, with the state it had been left in. Not only did it look like a bomb had gone off in it with all the holes, cracks, destroyed contents, but it also had been graced by the flames of ruin. Fires had been going on for a while now, with those still inside having long since perished either by the flames or lack of oxygen. Not only that, but with some piles of carbonized dust around suggested signs of a Noise attack, so the press would likely be informed of its destruction by said enemy of humanity, unaware of the true culprit. Either that or it would be swept under the rug, if one asked him Sun would bet on the latter. The teen had more than enough experience with greedy politicians to learn how to identify their behaviour. Seeing the state, the base was in, Sun couldn't help but sigh as well as think about how in over their heads the defenders had been when going up against someone like him. As well-hidden as it had been, it had been almost childsplay for him to locate and reduce it to its current state, a perk of wielding the weapon that he did.

Speaking of those weapons…

2 years…

2 years had passed since that damned Concert.

To be frank, Sun had mixed feelings about that thing, as on one side he would have loved to watch Zwei Wing sing their hearts out like they did with every Concert they hosted, even better if he was with his childhood friend. She may despise singing with all her soul, and not without just cause, but she didn't usually let his own passions for it affect her too much. She just treated him a little colder than she normally would whenever he would need to get ready for a Concert. As for Sun himself, he always DID like singing, mostly for the heck of it though his more important reason would probably have to be so that he could show his friend that Songs still held some beauty to them.

Shame she never really listened to their hidden meanings.

On the other hand, since he had a job to do back then, he could only send a Clone in his place at the Concert, making it so that he could be at multiple places at once. His abilities weren't anything to scoff at, as even their mother had been quite surprised at what they had seen upon him activating them. This ability to create clones out of himself was one such ability, one which came from a single hair on his body, implying that its limits depended on how many hairs he would be willing to use. As of that power, among several others he possessed, it made Sun realize just how OP he had become since activating those Relics, though like any fighter he had his own weaknesses, weaknesses which he had come close to revealing to his enemies a few times.

Yeah, that's right: Enemies, as in plural.

Glancing down at his right hand, Sun held it at his abdomen level, showing it to be clenched around something as evident by the multiple strings which could be seen poking out and falling towards the ground below. Slowly, he opened his right hand, allowing Sun to see what it had been that he had been sent to do this deed for: a pair of necklaces which had these long, crimson crystalline structures attached to them. However, to someone like him whom had some… experience with things like these, Sun knew EXACTLY what they were and their intended purpose. 'So… there were more of these things, huh? Mother DID say that there were meant to be three but these two were moved away when the third got captured by the American Government. In the end though, it's all the same, since each of these three will go to the same place…' Sun thought darkly, his eyes almost lighting up in flames with sheer anger and internal frustration at the loss of life which came as a cost of obtaining these things. Never let it be said that Sun enjoyed what he did, nope, not one bit.

**[You should return soon; you know how THAT woman tends to get whenever you take too long here.]**

'Yeah… your right, Wukong.' Sun responded as he turned on his heels, already muttering something under his breath as he got covered in a golden light. That light shielded his form from view as he took to the skies above and left the scene, since by the time the military reinforcements got here they would find NOTHING to suggest he had been here, something which Sun bitterly found himself impressed at the skill of how he had developed this. Still, in regard to the voice calling himself Wukong, as in the ACTUAL Sun Wukong the ancient Monkey King, he knew the said Monkey King had a fair point. That woman, whom had the audacity to call herself his and Chris' mother, had a bit of a temper as well as a twitchy finger, so he usually had to remember that being on time would be the optimal solution to him every time he went out on a job. Otherwise, either himself or worse, Chris would get the punishment for 'not being on time when mother calls' according to her bullshit logic.

Then again, she looked to him like any of the other shitty adults in this cursed world, no matter what Chris told him otherwise.

* * *

"We have what you requested from me, boys. I do hope they perform to your expectations."

"Of course, Mrs Fine. We shall make sure to put these to good use."

Within a research facility, one of course which was hidden away from the public eye, a business transaction took place between several parties. One such party consisted of several men and women in lab coats, guarded by some bald men with black glasses and matching suits. Each of them looked like the kind of shady characters one might encounter within an alleyway or something along those lines, what with the lab coat wearing men hunching over with one eye larger then the other. They looked like they never even tried to socialise outside of the respective fields either, giving them a rather creepy, if downright disturbing, kind of vibe. Normally one would comment on this kind of thing, but with the fact that they had an escort SPECIFICALLY designated for guarding them, those thoughts best remain internal lest some bloodstains be made on the walls... large ones at that, too.

As for the other party, it consisted of two people, one of which being Sun himself whom had been clad in a grey coloured suit. Not his favourite colour to be frank, but hey considering the morality stuff he had to do here and his intentions behind it, for some reason the grey suit almost felt symbolic to him for some reason. He didn't quite understand it, but heck he'd not be complaining. Anything that could make this transaction take as little time as possible would be golden in his book. Aside from him, though, there stood an older woman in her mid to late twenties, although sometimes Sun just couldn't help but feel that she had much more experience than what her age might suggest. The woman herself took the form of a tall woman with long white-blonde hair that goes past her hips, styled in a hime cut that parts into two "curtains" down her back; gold serpentine eyes; slightly tan skin; and red or pink lipstick. Her clothing consisted of a loose long-sleeved black V-neck dress that reached just past her pelvis, a black bowler hat with a butterfly ornament as well as a purple ribbon rose attached being on top of her head. She also wore a pair ofround black sunglasses with a dark tint that obscured her eyes. On her limbs, she wore a pair of lace-trimmed translucent black elbow gloves, butterfly lace-trimmed translucent black thigh-high stockings, black heels with maroon soles, and a black belt choker with a butterfly emblem on the front.

The woman, whom the men in lab coats addressed as Fine, smiled mysteriously and alluringly. "Well then, gentlemen, Its time for the rest of this arrangement be carried out. Let us proceed at once, shall we?" she suggested, getting rather frantic and eager nods from the rest of them. Honestly they looked like lost puppies wanting to follow their master anywhere she went, licking at her heels if she so demanded of them, something which internally both amused and disgusted her at the same time since she knew what lengths these people would go to, just to 'please' her. Though she'd be a hypocrite if she didn't do similar things herself. Glancing over to her adoptive 'son', Fine decided to let him off his leash for once. "My pet, why don't you have a run around for a bit, whilst the adults do the rest? You've done plenty already." she suggested, although Sun knew that in truth, it was more of an order, and if he were to disobey...

"Sure, ma'am." Sun bluntly yet curtly responded at the same time, nodding his head in her direction. This prompted Fine to smirk with a small giggle, a pleased hum escaping her lips as she reached forward and ruffled his blonde, nigh golden, looking hair. At the supposed 'affection', it took practically EVERYTHIN Sun had not to show any outward emotion and just remain standing there, despite the simmering hatred, if downright LOATHING he had for her when she did this. Whilst it looked like she was being affectionate to him, in reality he knew for a FACT that this would be the complete opposite, a show of dominion, control and power she had over him. To her, he was her pet, her toy, her source of 'amusement' whenever Chris wasn't around.

Only after Fine and the others had finally left to do whatever they were intending, Sun didn't care, did he let out a frustrated groan whilst he held a hand over his hair, putting it back into the state it had been before that damn woman touched it. 'Tch, just how long will it take... before we're free of that damn witch...?' he thought to himself bitterly, gritting his teeth behind a mask of calmness, something which he now did out of habit more than anything. Since he had been forced to hide his burning hatred for Fine ever since she took them in and 'exposed' her 'true colours', Sun had been making it a point to keep his feelings hidden away behind a Mask of neutrality, or perhaps just a mask in general, he wasn't so sure anymore.

**[You COULD just up and let that primate go , you know. Its clear as day that she's more loyal to practically a sadistic sociopath who abuses her every chance she gets, than to the Childhood Friend whose stuck by her through thick and thin. So why bother with her anymore?]**

'Like I told you before, Wukong, she's my friend, and I will NOT abandon her, especially not now.' Sun responded to Wukong, narrowing hiss eyes as his brow twitched. All the while, he started to wander aimlessly through the facility. Well, the facility he was allowed to access since a lot of the areas were restricted so only specialized personal could enter. He remembered everything Fine had done to his friend to make her as loyal as she was now, how she did it so thoroughly and yet discreetly that Chris put up with any mistreatment from her in order to gain Fine's acknowledgement. 'Plus, even if I DO leave, its not like it'll change much and I have little else to go aside from somewhere where Fine knows she will find me. As much as I loathe to admit it, she's got me cornered so she can do whatever she wants with me.'

He received no response from the voice that was his sole truest companion in this whole situation, but Sun didn't need one to know how it felt about all this. After all, it and him had talked about him just up and vanishing from Fine's side and reach more than thousands of times throughout the years they had lived under her, and through each of those times Sun had to argue with it on WHY it was that he refused to leave Chris's side even through her almost single-minded devotion to this sadistic woman. If it meant helping Chris, it didn't matter to him what he had to put up with, even if he hated it, he would do so if only to ease things for her. Of course, the voice known as Wukong, whom he saw as his partner, had the exact OPPOSITE opinion of the situation, seeing Chris as someone who was unworthy of Sun's devotion and as a sack of pathetic, disgusting garbage for not giving a shit about what he had to go through for her sake. Well, Wukong never outright said it, but Sun could DEFINITELY feel the agitation within his partner whenever they were around his friend, even more so when they were around her as WELL as around Fine.

A sigh escaped his lips upon thinking about all this, as no matter how much he tried Sun just couldn't stop thinking about the legendary Monkey King's words and views. After all, from his viewpoint, he wasn't actually wrong to think that he did, and sometimes, there were times when even Sun himself wondered what the point of his suffering for Chris's sake would even prove. However, he refused to divert from his path, he refused to divert from the promise he had made, a promise which he had sworn to keep until his dying breath.

Hopefully, something could change in the future, some sort of blessing could fall upon Chris which would allow her to live a long, happy life. He didn't care about his own life, no sir his had been cursed long ago, but he hoped something good will befall Chris, at least.

_…The sight of love fell from fingers tilting your neck_  
_If everything gathered and piled up, would we be able to reach the Lord Moon?..._

… Huh?

Just then, Sun suddenly stopped his singing when he heard the sound of a feminine voice, a voice which seemed to be singing. What the hell, who was singing? That thought filled his mind at first as, with his curiosity piqued, Sun tried to track down the voice, forgetting his earlier dilemma for the time being. As he walked, the teen heard the song and, confirming to him that he was getting closer to the source, he heard the song continue in greater volume by the second.

_Educating DNA on mixed errors of realism_  
_Bowing like dolls in a monochrome prison_

_That's why… that sort of world…_  
_Let's cut it all to pieces_

_Whoever you want to protect, true strength is_  
_"Courage" and the will to believe surely are dreams that spin tales_

_I've started to forget smiling, but I'm still fine, I can still fly!_  
_Shining bonds embrace a singing melody_

_We become delinquents from operating with drugs_  
_Target every unneeded emotion and uninstall it_

_Thoughts and ideas from links can't be represented as 0's and 1's_  
_My rising energy gauge surpasses its limits ad something overflows_

_Quickly… these kinds of tears…_  
_Let's cut them all to pieces_

_Now I attack with feelings critically beyond my limits_  
_"Restraint" isn't necessary. Now I'll try my all_

_My strength won't ever stop growing for I'll convey that "I love you!"_  
_Shining fate – destiny- the two of us are the sun and the moon_

_Our hands clasped together…_  
_I'll absolutely never let them go…_

_That's why… that sort of world…_  
_Let's cut it all to pieces_

_Whoever you want to protect, true strength is_  
_"Courage" and the will to believe surely are dreams that spin tales_

_I've started to forget smiling, but I'm still fine, I can still fly!_  
_Shining bonds embrace a singing melody_

By the time the song ended, Sun finally tracked down the source of the singing, having been utterly mesmerized by the melodious sound that was the singer of that song. Now, as a music artist in the idol industry, Sun had to have a professional outlook when he heard songs, especially songs from rookies in the said industry. This one, this voice definitely had the talent for singing, of that he found himself certain. In no time though, Sun found himself in front of an open café located inside the Facility's upper floors, one of the few places accessible to those from outside. The café itself seemed pretty spacious, not to mention well maintained which obviously showed the dedication the staff here put into its appearance.

However, that wasn't what caught Sun's attention the most, as well as held it.

What DID have his attention, were the café's sole two occupants: clad in white clothes which implied that they were residents of this place, not to mention their childish looking appearances. One of them turned out to be a blonde haired girl with an X-shaped clip on the left side of her bangs. Her eyes had a greenish colour to them like the leaves on a tree when they were rich in energy from the sun. The other one turned out to be the singer, judging from how she had assumed a praying gesture whilst her eyes remained closed and the other one seemed to be enjoying the song. She had long, straight black hair in a hime cut. Her hair is held in two pig-tails tied with pink ribbons, whilst when she opened her eyes after singing that song, he saw how they had a light pink colour to them.

'So, that one was the one who was singing, huh...? They look like they've been sheltered here or something, which knowing how this damn group which was founded by Fine works, that'd likely be the case.' Sun mused as he made his appearance known by stepping forwards, clapping his hands. This obviously served to get their attention as they turned to look at him, surprise and shock etched onto their features. "Not bad, that song I mean..." he spoke, a light-hearted smile forming on his features as he pocketed his hands inside his pants. "It was really well-sung, shows that the singer put a lot of effort into it."

"...Thanks, I guess." the black haired girl replied, which he pretty much had assumed her to be the singer so he felt glad that he had been correct. She didn't look at him for very long, preferring to focus down on the juice in front of her, which made him wonder if she was kind of socially awkward, but he didn't ask. Kind of rude to ask that to someone he's just met after all.

As for the blonde girl...

Well.

"Who the hell are you, buster?!" She questioned with an edge to her tone, quickly getting in front of the blackette, putting an arm out as if t shield her from him like he were some scumbag or something. Either that, or she just had a lot of caution when dealing with strangers, which to Sun felt like the likely case due to the feelings she was giving off. "Never seen you amongst the others before, so don't get any ideas about hurting Shirabe!" she bellowed.

At this, Sun arched a brow in confusion, halting his walking for the time being. "Who says I wanted to hurt her?" he questioned, although the blonde girl didn't budge from her position. 'Geez, just what is it like in this place? Obviously not ideal for kids, I bet...' he thought mentally to himself as he eyed the blonde who, despite trying to appear brave, looked to be lightly sweating from anxiety.

**[Its probably our natural aura, Sun. With our union, despite the... circumstances surrounding it, our aura is that of a 'king' and as such it is domineering and forceful. Nothing we can do will change that, and it seems to have heightened these two primitives distrustful instincts towards us.]**

'Is that so...?' Sun replied, mentally frowning at this information. He knew EXACTLY what Wukong meant by circumstances, as those pretty much summed the condition his weapons and powers were in, which separated him from normal Symphogear users. Honestly, throughout his time with them, he had yet to encounter anyone who had similar circumstances to him, though maybe that time at the concert when that black... thing, came into being, would be an exception. He had very few ideas on what it was, but Wukong seemed to know, but was unwilling to tell him without confirming it itself. Though, to do that they would need to track the thing down since its awakening trashed the entire concert alone, let alone the surrounding Noise. It honestly resembled a massive hell of black, sinister and twisted flames as far as he had been concerned when he learned of it from his Clone. He hoped that he wouldn't have to face that thing in battle, though knowing his luck, that'd likely happen in the near future.

Aside from that, he needed to help assure these two females that he wasn't someone they need be afraid of, so with his hands raised in a placating gesture, Sun spoke further in a slightly frazzled, yet urgent tone of voice. "Hey, I'm no threat to you two, don't worry about that. I'm just here whilst a... business transaction conducted by my 'mistress'" Sun had to force himself to not gag at that word, since that was the only one Fine would allow him to call her. Anything else would be grounds for punishment in her eyes. "is being dealt with. Name's Sun, by the way."

"..." For a moment, the blonde girl looked like she wouldn't believe him, and in that moment Sun got the feeling that he was looking at some kind of grim reaper, whose Scythe was pressed against his neck with the threat of a simple twist being capable of ending his life that moment right there. However, that soon came to an end when the blonde girl decided that he was telling the truth and lowered her guard, allowing him to breathe easier, taking a seat on a nearby table all the while. "Well, you definitely don't feel like THOSE guys, at least. Your way more of an open book than they are." she remarked, causing Sun to sweat drop whilst wondering if that was really the case, and if so should he be worried about things which he wanted to keep to himself? In any case, Sun didn't think on those for long since the blonde introduced herself soon after. "The Name's Kirika, and this is Shirabe. We're some of the so-called 'receptor children' whatever that is." she explained.

'Receptor children, huh? So, sounds like something Fine would definitely invest in enough to negotiate with foreign countries...' Sun thought, getting an agreeing hum from Wukong. Well, perhaps a change of conversation would be in order, and since they were in a café, a café which seemed to be one where one can order their food and have it automatically brought to them like vending machines, why not have something to eat to go along with it? Plus, he had missed breakfast today since he had that job to take care of, and he would NOT have wanted to risk Chris's safety for something as trivial as eating. "Hey, if it is not too much, how about we eat something? I pay." Sun suggested with a disarming smile, putting one leg's foot on his thigh as he glanced down at the table, a holographic menu soon appearing. He quickly inputted his account number, which had a sizable amount of funds thanks to his popularity as an idol, so he wasn't worried about money there.

On their end, the two girls glanced at one another, wariness and distrust evident by their gazes. After all, whilst they rarely had any contact with the opposite gender of the human race, it was safe to say that the little contact they DID have hadn't been anything good. As such, they relied only on each other in this little hell of theirs, not trusting any boys at all. In essence, it was just general distrust on their part for the guy in front of them, the fact that he looked similarly dressed to those scientists did NOT help matters for him, not one bit. However, one thing DID strike them as something which separated him from the rest of those men in black, and that had been how he literally OFFERED them something to eat for FREE, something none of the others had done for them so far. Judging from his following actions, it seemed that he wasn't kidding either, so perhaps they could at least do this much, if only to get a free meal out of it.

A moment or two later, each of them sat at one table, with Sun having moved to theirs once he'd ordered their meals, and started to eat. Initially, there was silence between the three as they enjoyed their food, preferring that to the company of each other... either that or they had just too much focus on their hunger for the time being. It wasn't long before they, albeit slowly, eased up into a conversation however, and as one might expect, Sun turned out to be the conversation starter. "... Hey, just a question out there but what songs of mine do you girls like?" Sun asked, it was a normal question from him since he was getting very well known worldwide. Heck, it was starting to get hard to walk down the streets and not get accosted by a girl or ten.

"... Sorry, but I haven't heard of you before." Shirabe replied after a moment, with Kirika nodding in agreement. At this, Sun's smile widened just a bit more.

"Seriously?" He asked and the two nodded again. "I see, well then how about we try a little competition? We will sing a song and the one who can guess the song of the other faster wins." Sun proposed and the two girls got interested.

They started singing and playing about, it was quite relaxing for both sides and they shared some laughs when Kirika ended up swallowing a fly during a song and started coughing like crazy. Sun even asked if the coughs were part of the song or not, because if they are then he can't guess at all. By twenty minutes later they were talking amicably, by an hour they were talking like bosom friends, and by the time they went their separate ways they had already shared numbers and were happy about the whole situation.

Of course, they, in the future, would continue to call one another every once in a while and it would be almost every night that they'd call one another to talk. Both sides had their own circumstances, their own little 'hell', but with someone to talk to about anything and everything it became a bit more bearable. One of them got to talk to two girls who shared a similar hell to him, one caused by the very same woman whom he served. As for the other, they found a nice source of outside entertainment to help them through their own experiences within that damned facility, as well as someone whom they could laugh and joke about it. Neither the two girls nor Sun talked any specifics about their circumstances, this was a pure friendship created by pure chance.

Though, that'd be a story for another time.

* * *

"TA-CHI-BA-NAAAAAAAAA!"

"E-Eep!"

Meanwhile, back in Tokyo at a certain massive Academy…

If there was one thing which would turn out to be a surprise in this newest semester, which had just begun by the way, it would be the following scene playing out before classroom of students, pretty much all female, wearing school uniforms. They didn't showcase much aside from a blank undertone, although some didn't attempt to hide their curiosity at the spectacle taking place.

Said spectacle turned out to be their instructor, a tall woman in her mid to late twenties with blonde chin length hair and amber eyes. She wore a simple plain blouse with black formal-looking dress pants and matching high heels. She also had facial makeup over her eyes and crimson lipstick over her mouth… her mouth which currently remained fixed into a scowling shape as the tall woman glared heatedly towards the younger of the two members showing this spectacle. Said girl… turned out to be Hibiki Tachibana, looking just like she had 2 years ago only with her hair slightly longer and wearing the same school uniform as the rest of the girls: white dress shirt with a high collar and a crimson tie, above that being a baggy-looking jumper. Around the waist was a greyish skirt with white lines forming large square shapes across the material and frilled at the ends. On her feet, were a pair of black shocks and yellow shoes… though, in her arms turned out to be the source of the older woman's ire: a white cat…

A white cat whom had been indirectly responsible for Hibiki being late to her first class this year.

Shivering under the fierce glare of her teacher, Hibiki adopted a meek, timid posture as she looked down, feeling like she'd melt under that gaze. Even so, she stammered in her attempt to respond to her non-verbal demands on why she had been made late when she had arrived at the Academy ON TIME for the opening ceremony, but still showed up late for the first period. "W-Well, you see… this-this kitty, tried to climb up a tree and couldn't get down, so…" she began, shuffling from one foot to another. Through the class of students, one of them seemingly put a hand over her forehead, as if to say 'good grief, I figured that might happen', although nobody called her out on it since their attention was focused on the 'juicy stuff' happening up front instead.

"Is that so…?"

"I thought that perhaps it was hungry, so…"

"TACHIBANA!"

In the end, not only did Hibiki get scolded for being late to class, the cat issue being resolved by some staff whom the Teacher had called in, but she also managed to embarrass herself in front of the rest of her classmates. Something which made Hibiki blush harder than a tomato especially when she heard the faint smirks and giggles aimed in her direction b a few… less than conspicuous ones. Silently, after the scolding in which she would be doing some 'overtime' after school ended, Hibiki got allowed to sit back where she was designated to, beside the same girl whom had facepalmed herself…

All in all, not exactly a good first impression, and it would only get harder for her from here on in.

* * *

By the time the day was done…

"Fuaaaaa, I'm beat…"

Losing what little strength she had left in her whole body, Hibiki fell onto her back once she and her roommate (yes, the Academy had a roommate system up and running), had arrived at their dorm room. From what she knew, the dorms would house the students separately from the actual buildings where the lessons take place, meaning that ever student received their lodgings here for the duration of their stay at the Academy. Not to mention that they split the genders of the students up, plus further divided them in terms of seniority, meaning the freshmen stay in one dorm, the juniors stay in another and the same could be said for the seniors. As a freshman herself, having just applied to this Academy, Lydian Private Musical Academy to be more precise, Hibiki shared a room at the Freshman dorms with one other person. "I'm already at the ends of my rope, and its only the first day of school. I must be cursed…" she whined to herself, not really looking for an answer to her plight…

But ending up receiving one from her roommate who turned out to be unpacking the last of her belongings into the Dorm room's shelves. Said girl looked to be around Hibiki's age, with a similar build to her but a tad bit more on the slender side of things. The girl had green eyes and shoulder-length black hair, with a white bow tied around the back of her head, keeping part of her hair away from her face in a half-updo. Like Hibiki she wore the school uniform of Lydian, and when she spoke, she did so without pausing her unpacking. "Half of its cause of your clumsiness… and you have your nosiness to blame for the second half." She explained evenly, like she had heard this conversation before and had grown a patient tolerance to it.

Of course, Hibiki didn't take too kindly to THAT jab at her nature, as evident by how she pouted in dismay and rolled herself onto her stomach, staring back at her roommate. "Call it helping others, will you Miku?" she whined placing her hands on the room's floor and pushing herself up, so she now looked to be on all fours. Still had that pouting face on though. "Its my hobby to help others."

Not sparing a glance at her roommate whilst straightening out the books in her hands, the black-haired girl known as Miku responded with her eyes closed. "In your case, its also called something else: going overboard." She retorted, thinking back to their times in junior high school together. She had known Hibiki for the majority of her life, practically grew up with her, so Miku felt fairly confident that she had the right to say these things, knowing the cream-haired girl like she did. Back then, Hibiki had always been someone who managed to get close to anyone she took a fancy too, making friends with them by the day's end. She just had that kind of positive, optimistic attitude to her and that just seemed to draw people in. "Under NORMAL circumstances, someone would just lend a textbook to a classmate or to someone in a different class." Still, despite that sometimes Hibiki could end up going a bit too far, in Miku's honest opinion, and usually those times end up resulting in what happened with her and the Teacher.

Still, her composure took a sharp nosedive as she nearly jumped in surprise, the reason being how Hibiki had gotten up close to her with a huge smile on her face, completely unlike the pouting expression she had on before. "Its okay, I can share your textbook then." She remarked with an idiotic grin, before getting up and jogging to the room's small table where she had placed one of her bags at. This meant she didn't see the mildly embarrassed look on her friend's face, especially since the moment she opened the bag up, Hibiki practically swooned at the contents within. "Aiieeee! The CD goes on sale tomorrow!" she proclaimed, holding up the contents in front of her.

The contents turned out to be a poster, a poster of a certain blue haired idol in a light blue coloured outfit looking as if she were caught in the middle of a twirling motion, her expression cool, calm and serene like a boundless ocean. Hibiki loved the ocean since she used to go there every summer back when she had been a young girl, her mom and grandmother usually joining her since her dad… well, let's not speak of him. Just seeing it sent Hibiki's giddiness into overdrive, prompting the following squeal as she hugged the poster to her chest. "Tsubasa's so cool!" she squealed happily, memories of hearing her songs filling the young girl's mind and sending waves of joy rippling through her body.

Seeing her friend be so happy like this managed the goal to make a soft, warm and knowing smile form on Miku's face, her eyes shimmering with similar emotions as she recalled a fact about the older idol. "Well, its true that you did apply to Lydian due to looking up to Tsubasa."

"Though, I couldn't get a glimpse of her at all today…" Hibiki moaned in disappointment. For the last few weeks before her eventual enrolment into the Academy, Hibiki had been nearly bouncing for joy at knowing that she would get a chance to speak with her favourite idol other than Golden Sun, whose career had been shooting through the roof as of the last few years. It had reached to a point where the guy could literally compete with Tsubasa as an equal instead of an upstart back when Zwei Wing was still around. However, knowing that despite being in the same school as her a chance to speak with her wasn't going to be as easy as she'd hoped, kind of disappointed the young girl. "Well, she IS a top artist, so it's unlikely that I'd be able to meet her so easily…"

Thinking about Tsubasa, Zwei Wing, and Golden Sun brought back memories, memories of 2 years ago. Back when that fateful Concert had happened and changed her life forever. That day, not only did she nearly get herself killed, but Hibiki had to go through physical rehabilitation in the hospital for the following months, receiving visitors from her friend Miku and her family on occasion, since she had to focus on recovery after the incident. She even received get well gifts from them, though that just sparked something else which had happened. Hibiki didn't know who, but according to the hospital staff someone else had sent her gifts such as chocolates and flowers with get well messages accompanying them. None of the staff knew who it was, and it wasn't any of her family or Miku since they would know if they got her those gifts, but those gifts had been a nice comfort for her since they seemed specially selected for her. She didn't understand it completely herself, but Hibiki just KNEW that whoever sent those things to her genuinely cared for her wellbeing and wanted to see her recover, something which brought a smile onto her face even now. It had been a few months, but afterwards she had FINALLY been able to go back home, but she had never forgotten the kindness that stranger showed her even if she didn't know anything about them. She wanted to know who it was whom had discreetly supported her, whom had cared enough to provide those things for her, so she could thank them herself.

Since as she soon found out, that kindness didn't exist everywhere.

Shaking her head to rid herself of those thoughts, Hibiki glanced down at her chest and pulled her shirt downwards slightly, allowing her to view the Scar she had received from the incident. To her, that scar remained proof that, no matter how unrealistic it had all seemed, NONE of it had been a dream, that it had actually happened. It helped somewhat that the Government didn't hide the fact that it had been a Noise attack, so Hibiki DEFINITELY knew it wasn't a dream… but still, it didn't answer all the questions she had been harbouring for those last few years. In her mind, there was much more to that attack than meets the eye, especially since the last thing she had seen before her vision went black from falling unconscious, was an explosion of black flames, flames which consumed everything they touched. Aside from that, Hibiki's memories of the incident, whilst fuzzy, still showed her images of someone whom she assumed had to be Kanade of Zwei Wing and Tsubasa, each fighting off the Noise in ways she didn't have a clue about. All the more reason why she wanted to speak with Tsubasa: to find out what had REALLY happened that day.

'There's no doubt in my mind… that Zwei Wing were the ones whom saved me back then 2 years ago. I remember there being someone else back then as well, but I can't recall that person, all I can recall was that they tried to help me get away, risking their lives in the process to hold the Noise off for me.' No matter how many times she tried, Hibiki just couldn't recall much about the mystery person whom had helped her other than Zwei Wing's Kanade. Perhaps she had been in so much shock from the event, like the doctors at the hospital had mentioned, that she had psychologically repressed the memories, so she didn't have to recall what she went through. But, to her, that wouldn't be sufficient, nope not at all. She had too much curiosity in her for THAT to be the case. 'That person… Tsubasa is the only one I can think of who knows the truth. She was there from the beginning, so if I talk to her, maybe I can learn what transpired 2 years ago, and the identity of that person…'

These thoughts… how many times had it been now? How many times had she thought them only to have none of the answers? Hibiki wasn't sure, but she DEFINITELY wouldn't let it get her down. She felt sure that things would change eventually if she just tried hard enough, she wouldn't let anyone get her down, since she followed the creed of 'its okay, I'm fine'. With these thoughts in mind, Hibiki spent the night pondering until she fell asleep, wondering just what it was that Tsubasa, her Idol, was doing right now.

* * *

Meanwhile, at a small outpost outside the city…

BOOM-CRASH-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM- BOOM-CRASH-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-CRASH-CRASH!

Sounds of explosions and gunfire filled the air, as rockets and bullets flew throughout the now turned warzone. These things fired from the barrels of assault rifles wielded by none other than the Japanese Self Defence Force Abnormal Countermeasures Unit against a large batch of Noise. Through the night, the Noise alarms had blared, and the response had been swift, any civilians in the vicinity being quickly evacuated so none of them would suffer the same fate as those who fell 2 years ago. As a result, it became an all-out skirmish between the military and the alien-like force known as the Noise… though, anyone with a brain could see how the Military was slowly losing ground.

Bullets passed through them like they were not even there, their Phase Barriers preventing them from taking damage made by ordinary firearms. It remained the same for their larger weapons, with tanks firing on the larger Noise only for their shots to have absolutely zero effect on their asses, much to the commander's frustration as he lowered his goggles, gritting his teeth in anger. "Tch, so the rumours were true, that ordinary guns can't touch these things…" He mumbled to himself, not wanting his men to be any more demoralized than they already were. Furthermore, some of them had lost loved ones at the Concert 2 years ago, so it would probably be even worse for them. Faced with such an enemy, it was a no-brainer why the Commander felt like the absolute worst form of defence unlike what he'd feel if it were any other enemy. 'Headquarters said we would be getting backup soon, but if they don't haul their asses quicker then there'll be nothing left for them to reinforce!' the Commander thought grimly whilst forcefully ordering his troops to strafe back slowly whilst keeping the barrage focused on the Noise. Even with the larger ones creating more smaller ones, they had to keep up the barrage otherwise they could end up being overrun and carbonized.

Just like all other times they had tried facing these beasts.

_"Imyuteus Ame No Habakiri Tron…"_

All of a sudden however, the Commander's eyes widened, and his form tensed up, as did the rest of the men when they heard a soft, melodious female voice echo through the battlefield. To him, he may not know who that voice belonged to, but just hearing it made him feel like something major was about to go down. 'Wait… could it be that our backup is…?' he began to wonder as a complicated expression formed on his features, though this got suppressed by the surge of wind which blew into his face, forcing him to cover it with his arms alongside his men. The source whelp it turned out to be a civilian-class Helicopter which flew overhead, past the defensive line they had formed and curved in front of the approaching Noise, dropping only a single person.

(Zettō Ame no Habakiri plays)

Whilst the woman fell down from above, she soon became bathed in a bright light, one which occasionally released flashes as bright as a flashbang. By the time the light reached the ground, the light vanished and revealed itself to be a young woman, a woman who looked to be in her late teens, her long blue hair falling down to her waist as she landed in a crouching position. Though, that didn't stop him from noticing what she wore, something which made him wonder about her. Her outfit could not be called such especially with how, according to the dumbstruck Commander's eyes, it looked less like an outfit and more like some skimpy swimsuit/armour mix.

The Armour itself consisted of blue stockings over the legs up to the thighs, with white armour covering them and coming equipped with long blades protruding from the ankles. At the thighs, there were several armour plates jutting outwards with what looked like vents installed in them. The torso and abdomen got concealed by a black leotard-like swimsuit which exposed her shoulders and wrapped around her neck, where she sported a white collar with extra white cloth strips over the chest. Blue cloth pieces concealed her hips and upper torso, whilst black sleeves and gloves covered her arms up to the biceps, with similar looking plates with installed vents as the leg ones only black instead of white, Her forearms were covered in white forearm guards, and finally over her head were a pair of black and blue futuristic looking headphones resulting in the woman looking like a mix of swimsuit, musician and samurai warrior.

One could say… the Commander felt perplexed by the situation. But if it led to this being over, then he'd be willing to deal.

"Tsubasa, co-operate with the first division for now and observe the enemy's reactions."

"No. I'm fine by myself."

"Tsubasa!"

Ignoring the transmissions, she got from her superiors, Tsubasa Kazanari stood up tall, drawing a long Katana sword from one of her thigh plates, holding it in her hand for combat. She then broke into a sprint, and thus begun to run towards her opponents with a look of absolute killing intent shining from her gaze. "INVERSE DEMON!" Just as she was about to impact the Noise' front lines, Tsubasa placed her hand on the ground and used it as a means to spin into a constant helicopter spin, her blades switching positions so that they were parallel to her feet which resulted in Tsubasa slicing through every Noise around her by bisecting them in half.

After a couple seconds of this, Tsubasa rolled into a crouch before pumping power into her legs, then leaping up to 80 feet into the air, dozens of energy swords being summoned around her which fell downwards onto her opponents like rainfall, skewering them and carbonizing the Noise on impact. "RAIN OF TEARS!" Tsubasa landed behind one of them thanks to this, prompting her to look up to see the larger Noise earing its robot-like claw back for a strike against her.

Not having that, she thought.

Gripping her Katana as the Ankleblades returned to their standby positions, Tsubasa took a light jog forward until she reached the tenth step, in which she jumped up into the air whilst rearing her Katana backwards for an overhead slash. As she ascended, the weapon itself emitted some mechanical whirring sounds as it transformed into a large Greatsword, one which crackled dangerously with violent blue electricity. "AZURE FLASH!" With a mighty war cry, Tsubasa swung the blade down, the energy of which created this blue energy crescent which split the large Noise in two. As such, the whole thing carbonized during an explosion caused by her strike, which left a deep gash on the earth where she had slashed, though Tsubasa cared not for this as she landed on the ground kneeling, her armour pieces opening up to allow the vents to release some momentary steam, before they closed again to allow her to finish off the rest of the remaining Noise…

(Zettō Ame no Habakiri ENDS)

(Last Surprise plays)

Or rather, she would have, if not for a series of… something, she couldn't quite make it out due to the speed that they travelled, to shoot straight by her face from behind, embedding themselves into the remaining Noise and blowing them to kingdom come. 'Wha…?!' the blunette thought, momentarily stunned as were the onlooking militia, until she realized something, and her eyes narrowed, a fierce glint of anger sparking in her eyes as she clenched her Katana's hilt tightly, the weapon having returned to normal after her last attack. 'So… its HIM…!'

Turning to the direction the attacks had come from, Tsubasa saw their source emerging from the smoke which remained from her own attacks, where a lone silhouette seemed to be casually striding through without a care in the world. As it did so, the flames surrounding it gradually shifted from their normal orangish colour, to an abyssal black colour, like eternal darkness of outer space itself, whilst the silhouette itself calmly and leisurely strode through them. No, more than that it almost seemed like they parted ways before it, allowing it passage through them Thanks to them as well as the smoke and the lack of lighting around it, Tsubasa couldn't make out the silhouette's form completely, but she didn't need to, since she recognized both it,AND the dual guns which were held in the Sillhouette's hands, the current bane of her existence would be an UNDERSTATEMENT if she were asked her opinion of this silhouette. It didn't take long for the figure to appear completely though, stopping when they had about 30 meters distance between them as the two stared one another down.

There, standing tall before her with a demeanour just as imposing and vicious as her own, was a young man (as far as she knew since the person looked pretty masculine), about her age. Though, that's all she would be able to tell about his identity, since the man here was dressed in entirely all black, consisting of a black Trench coat with a high collar whilst it split at the backside into three coattails which currently flapped about behind him thanks to a light breeze. Atop his head, there was a hood located within it that concealed it at all times. The hood hid his face in darkness somewhat, but he also had a black domino mask over the upper portion of his face. Though, in places of eyes, Tsubasa made out the masculine person's two eyes quite clearly due to the crimson glow which surrounded them, which showed two crimson eyes with eyes vertically slitted like that of a demon. Within his Trench Coat, he wore what she could only describe as a full body, skin-tight black combat suit which consisted of a waistcoat, belts wrapped around is waist like two ovular circles overlapping in an X like shape, some form fitting dress pants, black leather gloves and knee-high boots. Like she had mentioned before, the man held in his hands a pair of black futuristic-looking revolvers with a total length 35 cm each, each one having crimson red lines running along them, as well as a rotating style magazine with 6 shots… although Tsubasa knew that looks could be deceiving especially with this guy.

Oh yeah, and the left one had the name 'Donner' engraved in red writing on its right side and the right had 'Schlag' on its left side.

"You…!"

**"So… we meet again, fallen samurai." **

The figure spoke to her in a low, cold, dark tone of voice, one which would only exist inside any chuunibuyou's wet dreams after Tsubasa glared at him with pure hatred. She thought she heard her superiors order her to capture the person before her alive, but her anger made her doubt that, especially since just looking at him made her see red. There was no need for words at this point, she knew for a fact that he wouldn't listen to them even if her superiors said so, they'd encountered one another far too many times and every time he would avoid capture by her, humiliating her with one bitter defeat after another. She drew her sword and switched it to the Greatsword Form, launching a horizontal AZURE SLASH at him before he could raise his Revolvers to defend… or rather, that's what she thought when the dude simply thwacked it aside with his right gun, not changing his expression in the slightest.

Tsubasa didn't remain idle however, as she once again charged at him with her Katana in its Greatsword form for the time being, swinging in a horizontal strike towards his torso only for the dude to flip over her, firing at her back. She twirled around to block those blasts with her sword, although they still succeeded in ending her sliding across the battlefield. Then, the revolver in his right hand, the one called Schlag, vanished into black flames, fames which then reformed into another construct made from the same metal. Tsubasa's eyes narrowed at it, since it wasn't often used by this guy in their last fights, even so she had seen what it could do against Noise opponents. The weapon itself had the appearance of a black and red anti-tank rifle, one with a 3 meter long barre, with the word 'Schlagen' engraved onto its left side. Not a nice weapon, she could tell that much just from its appearance alone...

Then... a round got launched her way, and if her instincts hadn't kicked in just in the nick of time to pivot around the round, Tsubasa would have ended up being part of the fissure which the round created until it crashed into some of the mountain this outpost was built into... leaving a particularly nastily wide hole in its wake. Instincts screamed at her to face her opponent again, and when she did Tsubasa saw him having already prepared another shot to fire. 'Crap!' her eyes widened in dread as she quickly began hopping and flipping about like her life was on the line... which it was, since despite being an anti tank rifle, not only could the dude hold it in one hand, he could fire repeated shots with it in quick succession, as he demonstrated both now as well as in the past.

**"Fool. How pitiful, just pathetic. How many times have we done this… only for me to end up the victor and for your blade to become even duller?" **

"SHUT UP!" She yelled, her weapon returning to normal as she charged at him once the last round got fired, swinging diagonally at him since she quickly closed the distance between them. However, not only did the dude block by using the Schlagen's barrel, but he also aimed his remaining Revolver Donner at her face and pulled the trigger in the next second. Tsubasa arched her head back just a SECOND before the bullet fired, allowing her to see its composition up close… only to see nothing but pure black flames, flames which reminded her of all kinds of curses, evil and sinister nature she had seen in her lifetime. Looking at those flames, it felt like time slowed to a crawl, as memories of her past filled her mind just by looking at them…

SLAM!

"Guh!"

However, that didn't take long to change when the dude launched a snap kick to Tsubasa's abdomen, sending her flying backwards although she managed to flip herself into a crouch upon landing. She didn't remain idle for long though, due to the barrage of fiery rounds which the male launched at her with the use of both Revolvers this time, forcing her to jump into the air and shower him with a RAIN OF TEARS attack. Not changing his expression when he saw the rounds, the black-clad male stood there simply, letting the swords fall atop him and cover the ground in smoke.

When she landed on the ground again, her armour plates releasing steam again, Tsubasa looked at where he once stood and growled, an angry smile on her lips as she thought she had gotten a hit on him for once. However, that smile turned upside down into an angry scowl when she sensed someone's presence behind her, glancing whilst swinging her Katana in a reverse horizontal slash resulting in a black clad hand grasping onto the blade with a couple fingers and a thumb. The resulting shockwave blew through the entire area, causing their cloths to flutter about temporarily before they settled down into motionless silence, both fighters eyeing one another with one being impassive, borderline apathetic even, and the other glaring with so much malice that if looks could kill the dude would be dead a thousand times over.

After a short stare down, the dude made a move first, throwing his guns up into the air. putting his hands into chopping motions. Tsubasa, upon seeing this, quickly reacted by unleashing a RAIN OF TEARS, launching countless blades in his direction. Unfortunately, none of them would hit for the moment he horizontally chopped with his left arm, a wall made from black flames instantly erupted following the direction of his hand, forming an arch in front of him. The moment the blades hit did they get near instantaneously melted into a liquidly form and then evaporated into nothingness in the next second, rendering her attack pretty much useless...

Except for the fact that it had been a distraction so Tsubasa could get in close from behind, something which the dude realized quite quickly as he glanced behind him with his right eye, noticing the blunette already therewith her right leg's Ankleblade deployed, swinging towards his head. Instead of dodging though, he instead chose to raise his right arm as black flames wrapped around its forearm, elongating and extending. In the end, the flames physically changed their properties before her very eyes, turning from fire into a twisted black metal similar to the guns which were falling down right now, which ended up forming a tall, bulky-looking shield as big as the dude was, with a coffin-like appearance. It would be a no brainer to explain what happened next, right?

CLANG!

The Ankleblade bounced off the shield effortlessly, not leaving a SHRED of damage behind on its smooth as fuck surface whilst the dude swiped with his left arm, catching and dispersing one of the guns into those black flames, and holding the other to fire upon her. Tsubasa quickly realized the dangerous situation she had put herself in tough, and managed to flip back to avoid the initial few rounds… although that didn't hold true for the last shot which ended up blasting her left Ankleblade into smithereens.

"Guh!"

A shrill gasp escaped the blunette's lips as the sudden loss of her Ankleblade caused her to lose her centre of balance, This ended with her tumbling across the ground, rolling for a good few seconds before she managed to use the momentum to et up into a crouching position, sliding to a halt as she looked up afterwards. Her teeth gnashed together, utter fury filling her blue eyes as she glared with thick venom towards the dude, who just remained as impassive as ever.

**"Hmph, I grow weary of this. Let us end this farce for now, for I have more important matters to attend to."**

Saying that, the man he'd his right arm, the shield having vanished into black flames again, and stretched his hand out. Upon doing this, the flames from Tsubasa's previous battle with the Noise which had turned black earlier, all of them curved towards the space above his hand, many streaks shooting from them and gathering into a spiral there. When she saw what the guy intended to do, Tsubasa quickly cursed under her breath as she shifted her Katana into its Greatsword form, blue electricity coming from it whilst she put all her remaining power into the next attack.

In seconds, both attacks charged to completion, ready to be launched with extreme prejudice. On one side, there's the Greatsword belonging to Tsubasa, which now looked more like a literal lightning rod, what with all the chaotic electricity engulfing its form to the point where one might mistake her for wielding electricity itself. Furthermore, the weapon constantly released long sparks of electricity into her surroundings, zapping anything and everything within a close radius as she narrowed her eyes at her enemy. Meanwhile, in contrast to her attack, the dude's attack looked completely different, all flames in the surrounding area having been absorbed by the dude's attack, manipulated and molded into a single story house sized black drill, a drill made entirely from black flame as it rotated and rotated at high speeds. Steam rose from his surroundings due to the excessive heat being released from his fiery drill, all the while the attack's master remained silent, his crimson gaze unflinching in an inhuman mannerism.

One second, the two faced off silently like two cowboys about to have a gun draw duel in those western movies...

"HAH!"

The next each of them threw their attacks forwards. Both the Drill launched practically lazily by its wielder) and the biggest AZURE FLASH Tsubasa had ever made in her life (which she'd fired with a war cry, guess who took this seriously and who didn't) sailed towards one another like two bulls charging at maximum speeds. It didn't even take a SECOND for the attacks to reach one another, and when they did...

BOOM!

One hell of an explosion took its place, an explosion of both electricity and fire itself which blew away everything which had been in the vicinity of its epicentre. Tsubasa turned out to be one of those things, as she crossed her arms in front of her to shield her eyes, only to get sent flying from the newly released force behind the explosion's shockwave. She managed to right herself in mid air though, and when she landed with a SLAM kind of sound accompanying her, Tsubasa looked up to see what had befallen her adversary... only to see nobody. She couldn't even feel his presence anymore, which only stated one thing.

'He left...'

That thought carried with it a wave of humiliation for the blunette warrior, who dropped her Katana beside her as she fell onto one knee, her power rapidly dwindling into nothingness thanks to using nearly all of it for that last AZURE FLASH. Yet, all the same, Tsubasa's teeth clenched so tight that they could have easily shattered into little pieces at any moment from the sheer fury and shame she felt inside, shame from being defeated like this AGAIN. 'Damnit... DAMNIT!' She screamed in her head, punching the ground in front of her and not caring in the slightest about the painful backlash she received. 'Just how... how many times will that guy make a fool out of me?!' She could feel it in his strikes, in his attacks, heck in his entire attitude, how little he actually took her for a threat, how he only saw her as a minor annoyance and not a true warrior whom had trained for years in the art of the sword. For someone to belittle her for the last 2 years, saying something about how anger dulled her blade, she just wanted to change that look into one of pain already!

"...a...sa..usa...Tsubasa!"

"?!"

Repeatedly blinking, Tsubasa lightly gasped, barely above a whisper by the way, when she finally registered the voice of her superior reaching through the built-in intercom of her gear. The level of force and drive in the tone he used indicated he had been trying to get through to her for a while now, but she had been too caught up in her thoughts to notice. 'Tch, stop this Tsubasa, you can't let this get to you, a blade does not have emotions, a blade has no need to feel anything, not rage, not happiness, not joy nor sorrow. it only deserves to cut down the opposition before it.' her chiding continued like a mantra inside her mind, all the while her lips moved out of instinct thanks to the tone she had heard. "I'm fine sir... I'm fine."

"What happened, Tsubasa?! your power levels have dropped significantly!"

Despite her mantra, Tsubasa cringed to herself, this being another part of her shame as a warrior. The part where she had to inform her superiors of yet another failed attempt at capturing the mysterious dude in black. Still, she did her duty and reported in whilst slowly getting to her feet. "I had... another encounter with codename 'SHADOW'. He eluded me after he disposed of the remainder of the Noise." she replied with no small amount of bitterness, bitterness she tried to hide behind a level-headed voice tone although her superiors knew better. It had been the same as the last few years they had fought for, so the fact that nothing had changed in those few years made her all the more furious, at boh the dude in black as well as herself. No matter how hard she tried, no matter what tactics they had used since 2 years ago when SHADOW, the man they had given the codename for since they had no idea what else to call him, first appeared.

"SHADOW... that man appeared 2 years ago, the one whose evaded capture at any turn... did he come here for the Noise? He's been killing them whenever he appears, but... anyways, return too the base you look like you could use the rest. We'll handle the clean-up."

"Roger that." Tsubasa replied curtly as the connection cut itself off, leaving her alone with her thoughts once again. With her superiors dealing with any aftermath she didn't have a reason to be here any longer, as there weren't any Noise sightings anywhere for the time being. Thus, aside from the whole SHADOW thing, this mission would be counted as a success by the majority... though not to her. A sword was supposed to cut everything in its path like its wielder told it to, but despite that there had been one thing today that this sword couldn't cut. Glancing down at her Katana which lay at her feet, Tsubasa grimaced as she picked her weapon up by its hilt, the smooth and familiar sensations gripping it gave her helping to calm her nerves.

With that, the night for one Tsubasa Kazanari ended... though it didn't end happily, it never ended on a happy note for her, not once since that concert 2 years ago.

* * *

The following morning soon arrived, and the population of Tokyo City soon began to rise from their comfortable beds to begin their day anew. A mundane cycle, but then again mundane life could be a blessing in disguise, for some people anyways...

"Ngh, looks like my afternoon's going to be a fairly busy one..."

One Tai however, he didn't see it the same way, as he woke up feeling a bit light-headed and heavy-lidded. Groans escaped his lips as he forced his body to move, throwing his bed covers off him and exposing his body to the bedroom elements. It didn't take him long to get into the swing of things, quickly cleaning himself and getting dressed in his school uniform. As a senior, he still had the same getup as 2 years ago, but he instead had an orange tie. A strange thing for a uniform with pants similar to prison bars, but then again ever since 2 years ago a lot of stuff had to change around in these parts. One thing which changed, was the fact that some of the staff at school had to be 'replaced' for 'complications', the new staff performing much better than the old ones.

Though, the reason why he mumbled that whilst rubbing his hair with his right hand and putting his fake glasses on with his left was due to a notification he'd received on his Phone, one regarding his job shifts. Turned out that the afternoon shift got passed on to him since one of his colleagues had to go on leave due to being sick, so his afternoon wouldn't be free like he had expected. Well, not like he could help it, plus after working the same job for 2 years now, he had long since grown used to it... though the atmosphere around him had changed since he had been put off his Probation, colleagues growing less tense and cautious around him while rumours bout him stopped spreading. There may be still the occasional dirty looks sent his way, but that Tai could manage.

Once he got all dressed and was ready to head out, Tai made sure to grab his Necklace and hide it underneath his shirt, so nobody would notice it. Now, he usually did this since he didn't want anyone to touch it, given how it was one of his most important treasures, but recently it had a... much more significant connection to him, one which made him more attached to it than anything he had currently in his life. Standing before his mirror, Tai checked himself out, nodding a moment later in satisfaction as he proceeded to look down at his watch, noticing the time. 'Whelp, time to head out, I have some extra time today due to my schedule only having only morning periods, the afternoon being self-directed study although I'll just use that for my work...' he thought, confirming his day's plans in his mind before he proceeded to walk out his bedroom, make and eat some toast, all before walking out for another day's worth of school.

The first half of his journey didn't have anything exciting happen, he just kept to himself as well as his head lowered so people wouldn't look at him. He wasn't one for large crowds anyways, plus this morning his friend Chad had to call in sick so he wouldn't be at school today, much to Tai's disappointment. Going there was just a mundane experience without his bro to make it slightly more bearable. Of course, Tai didn't take this stuff for granted, especially since he knew what it was like growing up without the ability TO go to school, though back in those days he had so many ideals and fantasies of what it would have been like to go to a place like that. Ideals which got crushed by the time he did end up going to one.

However, the moment that the SECOND half of his journey began, which would be the half after the metro station, did things start to liven up his lifestyle and put some excitement into him.

He had just left the metro station, and was about to head in the direction of his School when all of a sudden, his instincts went crazy when he sensed a presence rapidly approaching him. 'Huh? What the heck-?' he thought, reflexively sidestepping to avoid someone rapidly approaching him...

"Kya!"

FWOOSH!

Only to register it as a female who tripped over something (he wasn't sure what, didn't look to find out). 'A girl? Wait, this sensation...!' before she could fall onto the hard pavement of the path outside the metro station, Tai reached forwards and hooked an arm underneath the girl's neck, just at the base so he didn't touch anything lower like her chest or something disrespectful like that.

"H-Hibiki?"

"E-Eh?!"

The moment that he got a look at her after he helped her back onto her feet, Tai's eyes fell upon the amber eyes of Hibiki Tachibana, who looked at him with a similar look of shock on her own features. For a moment, silence reigned supreme between them, until the black haired teen broke it with an amazed tone of voice in his next sentence. "Holy hell, it really is you, Hibiki. Man, been a while, huh?" he remarked, an uneasy smirk on his lips. 'Wow, I did NOT expect to meet Hibiki HERE of all places...' he mentally added. 'Been a while since we last met, what with my lack of time these days...'

"Ah, its really you, Tai!" Hibiki exclaimed, her lips curving into a bright, happy smile which got enhanced by how perky her eyes had become. She then bounced up and down, hopping on the spot and switching feet all the while kind of like that small dragon loli which the internet loved to meme. "Its really been a while! 3 Months, right?" she responded, before she stopped and switched to a more pouty demeanour, her hands on her hips whilst she puffed her cheeks out. "You could have texted or called me, you know... I was worried something happened to you!"

… Yeah, he didn't have anything to defend himself with against that comment. Over the last few years, he and Hibiki had met frequently, either in passing or accidentally with there being few acceptions. Such as when one time she had asked him for his phone number so they could text and keep in touch. To that end, they hung out a lot, going to music shops to see what kind of artists picked their interests up, sometimes got some lunch together, Hibiki even intruded him to her friend Miku, officially indoctrinating him into their group. They often texted, talked and did the usual stuff friends did, according to Hibiki anyways. This happened after a while, at least a month, and afterwards the two became quite close. On Tai's end he wasn't sure what their relationship was quite yet, but he felt it had to be between acquaintances and friends. Nobody ever said he was good at making friends, he'll say that much, further proof being how he had only one true friend in his entire life.

In any case, it'd be wise to answer her, so with a nervous, apologetic laugh, Tai responded whilst trying not to show how nervous he felt inside. "Sorry, my bad. Things have been quite hectic as of late, what with school work, college inspirations and my part time job too." he explained, ignoring the light heat which pressed against his chest. He wasn't lying either, as things happening on those fronts really did restrict his free time, but he just REFUSED to mention one other aspect of his life that he kept under wraps. In order to change the topic to something more comfortable, Tai made to question her about something, but before he could Hibiki beat him to it. "Hey, have you heard? Tsubasa's CD is coming out today!" she proclaimed, pulling out the poster she had in her bag and showing it to him.

"Huh?" Tai momentarily blinked, before realization dawned on him. "Oh yeah, I heard that its that time back when you talked about it with me..." in great length to the point of being a religious fanatic, he mentally added, but didn't say it out loud. If there's one thing being close to a girl for once has taught him, its that he had to pick what he had to say so he didn't end up making her hate him and thus breaking off their friendship. He recalled how, ever since 2 years ago and Zwei Wing disbanded, Tsubasa carried on in the idol industry as a solo music artist, retaining quite the popularity within the community and retaining a loyal fan following. He did find some of her songs enjoyable, but there was just something about them that, well, just turned him off honestly. Its like she's trying to compensate for something, or something is causing her to become more detached with every song she sung. Looking at Hibiki who, in his eyes, was one of her most devout followers for multiple reasons, Tai arched a brow as he adopted a knowing expression. "Looks like to me you'll be buying that CD the soonest possible chance you get, am I right?"

Nodding her head at his question, Hibiki squealed happily as she hugged the poste to her chest. "Yep! I don't care what people ay about people not having CD's these days, i'm buying it! CD's have better bonus material anyways, so there!" she proclaimed to the world, causing Tai to chuckle in amusement at her outlook. These days people didn't really buy CDs anymore due to the availability of songs on things like iTunes, Spoify, and basically the internet in general, so seeing Hibiki who definitely was more old fashioned than what most people were made her stand out all the more. It wouldn't be unnatural to assume her to be like a bright ray of sunshine in this world, something he and Miku shared in common with her.

Soon, a new topic of conversation got sparked when he noticed her current getup being the Lydian Academy Uniform. "Looks like your officially enrolled, girl." he remarked, giving her a thumbs up. "Congratulations."

"Hm!" Hibiki responded, nodding happily before the two started walking together, side by side. Mentally, Tai worried he might be late for School today thanks to this little accidental meeting, but honestly if he were to be asked, he'd chose spending time with Hibiki over going to school any day, though he figured that to be the same for Miku too due to how close the two girls were. Plus, it wasn't like his work ethic was bad in school, since he had respectable grades despite him not being the most popular kid there. Still, he listened to Hibiki when she continued speaking, putting his own thoughts aside for the time being. "Its been a bit of a hectic first day, but its been fun so far...!"

"Right, and you haven't had any of your klutzy moments, right?"

"Mou, your being mean, Tai, I'm not a klutz..."

"you trailed off there, so that must mean something happened."

"... maybe."

His words eventually unravelled the little fact of Hibiki being scolded by her teacher for being late for her first class after the opening ceremony, all for helping a cat down a tree. To be frank, Tai honestly expected something like that, considering what he knew of her character. Even though Miku knew her for way longer, Tai bet he had a pretty decent grasp of her personality, not to mention that incident with the Concert must have affected her mentality, at least in more ways than one. At that, Tai smirked knowingly and patted her on the shoulder to show he was just teasing her. "Hey, new schools aren't easy to get used to, so don't let it bother you. I bet you'll get used to it quickly enough, plus its only your first day." he told her in an assuring manner.

This had the intended effect of cheering the cream haired girl up, as evident by her mildly frustration morphing back into a happy one, something which relieved him inside. To him, a sad Hibiki was an affront to nature itself. That may be a little extreme for him to say, but he couldn't help it, Hibiki just exuded a positive attitude which proved itself infectious, since it made even someone like HIM crack a smile. "Hehehe, yup! I'm definitely holding my head up high, cause I got you and Miku with me!" she exclaimed, and THIS drew a questioning look from the male.

"Huh? But, we're going to different schools, so how can you say that, Hibiki? Shouldn't it be just you and Miku, then?"

"Tut-tut, how little you understand ma young padawan, mwahahahaha…"

"...You just tried to go all old star wars mode on me just now, didn't you?"

"Maaaaybe…"

"Oh please, you did!" Tai responded with an accusing finger pointing at her, Hibiki laughing at him in response. Tai then lightly bumped his shoulder against hers, nearly causing her to trip before she glared right back at him for tat, though in the end it just made her look more adorable. To that glare, Tai responded with a grin similar to that of a gremlin, his eyes just screaming 'I got a GREAT ace up my sleeve!' "Therefore, I'll counter with: German science is the best in the world!" To further proclaim his declaration, Tai even went and stopped walking in favour of pulling off the signature pose which came with said comment, much to Hibiki's dismay.

"Hey, no fair! You just copied Jojo!"

"Heh, sorry Hibiki, but its too MUDA, MUDA for you to try. Remember that time when you tried imitating one of the MANY fabulous jojo poses?"

"murmurmur… I'll get it right one of these days..."

Hibiki grumbled as their verbal argument ended with her defeat by the hands of yet another Jojo reference, something which made Tai roll his eyes in exasperation. What, Jojo is pretty much life with all its references to culture in its various parts. Tai may not be too much of an otaku in nature, but there were few series which he liked, most of them being dark and edgy ones, but Jojo is by far one of his favourites. He'd even gotten Hibiki hooked onto by showing her Part 1, to which she quickly took it in like water n a sponge. Once she had finished part one, she went onto watching parts 2 through five... in one sitting. A girl who secretly liked action movies and an anime about badass manly men being similar to action movie stars? Obvious result is obvious. However, it still did the job of pulling a lopsided smirk out of the teen as the two shared a light laugh with one another. If anyone were to look at them right now, they would just see two high school students walking together and having a chill conversation, something which both of them would enjoy due to the moment of normalcy in this hectic, chaotic Noise-plagued world of theirs.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Here we go, chapter four has been complete. Slightly longer than the last few chapters, but then again the last one was shorter than 14K the standard word count I'm aiming for these chapters to be. However, there's some things I wish to talk about so that I can get them off my chest.**

**For one thing, if ANYONE thinks I'm being pretentious, arrogant or the like when I make these authors notes or anything like that, I'll say it right here: That is NOT my intention. I'm just trying to communicate what I'm intending for this story to eventually become, if I come across as anything else then I officially apologise. I write these stories mostly for fun and as a way to better my writing skills. I'm not trying to be anything bad or negative, and if anyone was offended by any authors notes I've made then let me know and I'll change them in some way to make them less so. Fanfics are supposed to be fun and enjoyable to read, right? So what's the point if they aren't that? Pairings are still up in the air save for the Chad and Miku, as I have ideas on how that could work, and lets be honest: all of the female Symphogear cast are adorable in their own ways and worth protecting, alright? even some of the villains who have complex motivations which seem easily relatable. Also when I wrote the story's beginning I hadn't finished the entire series yet, but now I have so I'll be able to make the necessary adjustments to fit my plot. **

**Second, if one wants a better picture for what SHADOW looks like, try to look for Cid from the manga 'eminence of shadows' in that dark hooded trench coat of his, but replace his hair with that of Akira Kurusu from Persona 5, as well as crimson slitted eyes. His weapons are similar to Hajime's from Arifureta: from commonplace to the world's strongest, with his other powers being taken from a bunch of different anime series. I know that Symphogear's all about music and understanding others, so I'll keep that in mind when writing future chapters. Still planning on doing this my way, though since this is a fictional story after all. Although one may THINK that SHADOW is an edgelord, I personally am a fan of that type of person, I don't know why but it just appeals to me for some reason. The dark clothes, the cool and collected personality, the badass weapons and abilities they wield, to me it beats out most other things. Like, whenever I see a magical girl anime, I always imagine what it would be like for a badass edgelord to be in the show. I dunno why, it just excites me thinking about how cool it could be. **

**Third, I'm going to try my hardest to make this world a connected one, unlike in the canon series where each villain is mostly revealed in their respective seasons, just to make things easier. Might include some encounters with some fan favourites, or make original scenes with them encountering things on this other end i'm setting up, only time will tell. As such, I hope you all can bear with me on this**


	5. Chapter 5 - Another Awakening

**Chapter 5 – Another Awakening**

"PANT-PANT-PANT-PANT…"

The cold winds blew trough the air throughout the atmosphere, the sun beginning to set upon the evening, showing how late it had gotten. Even so, the weather seemed quite warm, a complete paradox to the weather patterns which the city had been experiencing recently. Some birds chirping as flocks fluttered through the skies above could be seen, enjoying their freedom and migrating to other areas, the usual stuff for animals like them. The air itself smelled clear, fresh even, despite being within an urban location though pollution levels in this city weren't all that high to begin with. Now, here's the thing: Normally, not many people would be out this late and alone, especially if they wanted to keep their lives intact since the potential danger for them to be attacked suddenly by either human or Noise… well, it wasn't small to say the least. The instinct for self-reservation would be prevalent in all living beings, after all, it only being natural for those said beings to follow that instinct.

However, one high school girl didn't seem to get the memo, as she literally raced through the streets like a cheetah fully sprinting to catch its prey, all whilst lugging her bag in her right hand in a manner which made it look like it was dragging her down. Since the bag wasn't the type which could be put on her back, this would only be natural to occur. Her breathing looked to be quite uneven with the rapid rising and falling of her torso, her breath coming out in heavy pants whilst her brows sweated profusion from the exertion of energy and the strain that her bout of exercise had on her system. Inside, her lungs felt like they had practically caught fire in their desperation for relief, though Hibiki still pushed on, her goal repeatedly stating itself inside her mind like a mantra being constantly yelled into her ear. All in all, she looked like someone who had been running for an extended time period and would likely have already begun respiring inside with her body nearing its limits.

One could guess who this cream haired girl was.

Hibiki jogged through the city like a mad woman possessed, refusing to slow down no matter how much her body demanded of her to do so. Instead, she just kept pushing herself, her thoughts only concerned with two things and two things only. 'CD'… Bonus Material…CD's… Bonus Material…' she chanted mentally, her sole source of inspiration as she glanced about, noticing that she was nearing the store in which she would be able to acquire her desired purchase. 'Miku said that the CD's may be sold out already, but… I just got to check, then buy one as soon as I can! That way I can listen to the CD Tsubasa released whenever I wish back home.' She thought as she turned a corner and came near a department store, one which she had been seeking out this whole time.

'Phew! It's not closed yet!' she thought in relief when she noticed the sign for the shop being open, prompting her to finally lose the adrenaline keeping her body going which resulted in Hibiki slouching forwards, dropping her bag beside her as she placed her hands on her kneecaps, taking a moment to catch her breath with her eyes closed, an aching feeling spreading through her torso due to some much needed respiration. "Haa… haaa… yattaaaa… I made it in time…" she mumbled under her breath, although it ached just to speak right at this moment. Some of her brow's sweat even fell onto the ground in front of her, so Hibiki raised her right arm to wipe her brow clean of the sweat, resulting in her school's jumper to have a large watery stain on it which took over most of the forearm. Her mother wouldn't be happy bout that since there were still so few copies of the uniform in storage in their house for the time being, but Hibiki hoped that it wouldn't be too bad.

In any case, now that she was here, Hibiki found herself reflecting whilst she made to regain her breathing. Having gotten up early in the morning, it had been a fairly standard routine for her at that point, get ready, eat breakfast with her mom and grandmother who lived with them, then head out for school. Her mother, when she wasn't looking after her grandmother, worked at a small retail store to bring money into the family. They weren't too poor, but they weren't that rich either, but they had no problems with that. As long as they could live in peace, that was the main thing for them, herself included. Its where she got her love for a peaceful, ordinary life from.

With that, she had left, and it hadn't been long since she ran into her only other friend besides Miku, Tai. Even though they didn't go to the same schools, to Hibiki Tai had just as big a role in her life as her best friend did, since the three of them spent the last 2 years together. What Miku had in years, Tai had his good deeds to offset it, deeds which even her friend had to admit she had been grateful to him for. Not only had he helped save her life back at the concert (this made him a fellow survivor, something which Hibiki could relate to among other things), but he had helped her out when she had been at her lowest, managing to help her open back up to Miku and regain the light she had previously lost. She'd be forever grateful to him for that, since nobody else tended to do that for her. The talks between them from then on, well, they were a great source of entertainment for her, as well as a place to vent her frustrations since the guy proved himself to be a GREAT listener.

Then they had to separate to go to their schools, and the rest of the journey continued in silence.

The entire day from the moment that she had done that and had gotten into school late (and gotten scolded by the teacher again), had been one big rollercoaster for her, one which didn't seem like it would end with her retaining any form of dignity. The first thing which happened after the whole scolding from the teacher thing, began at lunch when Miku had informed her of an attack made by the Noise last night, in a small outpost not too far from the city. Fortunately, there weren't any casualties this time, not like the Concert from 2 years ago, something Hibiki had clutched her chest with phantom pains from that incident, but it had been a close call for the military, if they had arrived any later then there would have been a pile of carbonized chunks to bury… alongside dozens of apology letters to affected families.

Hibiki didn't need any reminders that the Noise were dangerous, though, since she had first-hand experience on THAT front…

Now, Hibiki had thought that her friend had finished there, though that thought process had vanished moments later when the blackette had continued. Apparently, according to Miku on the same night, something else had been going down although it was difficult for her to dig anything up. Details unfortunately were pretty scarce on the subject, but according to what there WAS, apparently some strange creature skulking about behind the Noise attack, hiding within their shadow so that it could do whatever it pleased. Although with the lack of details behind it, Miku and her hadn't paid this much attention and just considered it as a rumour… though, in the backs of their minds, they had to wonder on that: since this wasn't the first time such a creature had been reported, their appearances having started coming to light about 2 years ago… right after the Concert. If those supposed 'rumours' had any sort of validity or truth to them, then… did the world and humanity have an enemy OTHER than the Noise? And if so, what was it? Why weren't they showing themselves? The lack of knowledge on such a foe could potentially ensue mass panic among the populace, especially if this thought process had any truth to it.

Though, Miku had questioned if they had anything to do with the disappearing Politicians which had been happening for the last few years, since these rumoured appearances came shortly before or after their disappearing acts.

Whilst this had been something which concerned them, those thoughts had not long few out the window metaphorically, when all of a sudden, a commotion had occurred in the dining hall, where some of their classmates had noticed a certain blue haired Idol join them there. Moving with a sense of cold, serene untouchability to her, one Tsubasa Kazanari had made her entrance, moving as silent and graceful as the wind itself… one could understand why the occupants of the dining hall pretty much flipped the heck out now right? Though, as for one of them, Hibiki herself saw this as her chance, a chance to finally get some answers to questions she had long since held within the tightly sealed vault of her mind. She didn't know if there would ever come a second chance like this, so she had to grab this one whilst she still remained capable of doing so. However, sadly for her, things didn't exactly go as planned, since when she tried to get up from her seat to talk to the blunette, she pulled a don goof and spilt some coffee over her uniform.

With the blunette idol watching…

Yeah, she felt it becoming more official: she was cursed.

Overall, it had been an exhausting day for her, exhausting in the mental sense but not the physical sense. It had been only through Miku however, that she had even remembered that Tsubasa's CD would be released, and odds were that they would be quickly sold out by the time the shop closed, so she didn't have much time. Hence, she had to hightail it out of the Academy (it had been last period, which had ended, so there were no problems there), take the metro and then dash like a bat out of hell across the city to the opposite side JUST so she could reach the store in time. So yeah, now that she had caught up to this place, she felt perfectly justifiable to get some well-needed rest.

"Haaa…Haaaaaa…" she breathed out as she regained her strength, letting her body recover from the run she had put it through, until she managed to get herself to stand upright with most of her breathing settled. "Whew, now THAT's something I don't want to repeat again…" the cream haired girl moaned to herself, stretching her arms over her head. "I felt like my lungs would melt inside of my own body before long… huh?" Just as she lowered her arms and opened her eyes, Hibiki expected to see something along the lines of people inside the store, customers or at least a clerk or something. However, instead, all she saw were several piles of… carbonized remains. Several pieces floated in the breeze before her, allowing Hibiki to see the dozens of piles OUTSIDE the shop and across the entire street, the sight causing her to have PTSD-induced flashbacks to the Concert 2 years ago. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest as she quickly became tense, a dreadful feeling welling up inside as her eyes narrowed sharply, already knowing just WHAT had been behind all this. "… Noise?!"

This… wasn't good, this wasn't good at all! The memory of that Concert resurfaced in her mind and threatened to make her freeze up again, just like back then! Her body trembled in dread, her skin losing colour whilst she stood there, paralyzed as if one false move would result in her being surrounded by those natural predators to humanity. All the while, her brain ran 1000 miles an hour to process an alternative solution to her problem in a maddening craze. 'WhatshouldidowhatdhouldidoWhatshouldidowhatdhouldido? Should I call Miku? No, she's too far away and I don't want her to get dragged into this! She should be back home with her parents by now so she wouldn't be able to help anyways!' she thought, managing to draw out enough strength and willpower to grab her Phone from out of her bag, her fingers trembling like jelly would when touched, as she messed with the interface to pull out her contacts. Scrolling through the list, Hibiki desperately pulled through her options, all of them resulting in negatives, and just when she felt like she would be about to faint from the emotions pooling inside of her, Hibiki's fingers stopped scrolling down the list when she saw one name in particular. 'Tai…?! Yeah, he could help! He did say he had his part time job, so he could be close by! I'll give him a ring and-!'

"No!"

"?!"

Suddenly, her thoughts got interrupted when Hibiki heard the sounds of two children exclaiming in fear, not too far from her own location either. Their cries caused her ears to perk up alongside the realization that there were others nearby whom hadn't been carbonized yet. In that case, Hibiki felt her next choice of action to be clear, so without hesitation she put her Phone back in her bag after making a quick text to Tai instead of a call, then rushed on over to where she had heard the cries coming from. She could only hope that she wasn't too late and repeat the same events that had happened before.

* * *

With the surge of alarms going off, the workers in the command room almost didn't hear it at first, but their trained ears picked it up, nonetheless. Two large doors slid open, which revealed Tsubasa on the other side. The fact that she was still wearing her uniform which came with a pair of thigh high brown boots with laces on top, pretty much implied she had came here straight after school, and with the look of urgency on her face, she had been informed of something dangerous happening. Something which became proven by the following words which escaped her mouth. "What's the situation?" the tone in her voice suited the situation well, as it rung through the room alongside the alarms which blared forth from the multiple monitors throughout.

To respond to her question/demand, one of the workers quickly spoke whilst typing on a keyboard with an equal amount of urgency. "Currently, we're narrowing down the list of responses and placing priority on discerning its location." The worker in question looked like a tall man in his mid to late twenties, with dark brown hair and eyes, as well as features which would generally make people forget about him at first glance. The man's outfit consisted of a blue formal suit with matching pants and dress shoes. The look on his face belayed the urgency of the situation though, especially since they had intimate knowledge of the cause at hand.

Tsubasa, after hearing this, looked up to the main monitor, which turned out to be the biggest in the command room as it displayed dozens of red circles across a portion of one of the city's districts. Looking at it filled her with a sense of grimness which caused her to grit her teeth in frustration. 'This is… another attack so soon…!' She thought, something which was shared by the rest of the team. To her, waiting around to be deployed was one of the worst parts of this job, but there wasn't anything to be done about that, if she were deployed into the wrong area, then she would risk causing innocent and unnecessary casualties from happening.

* * *

Meanwhile…

"PANT… PANT… PANT…"

Hibiki ran like her life depended on it, only this time it kind of did since she now had the danger of Noise now resting on her back. Furthermore, she wasn't alone unlike before, since on her left and right flanks were two young children, one boy and one girl barely older than 5 or even 6, whose hands were held in her own as she ran down a back alleyway. Turned out these two had gotten separated from their parents, so Hibiki took it upon herself to make it so that she could reunite them and have them survive this incident without fear. She wouldn't let what happened before being repeated here, not when she could help it this time! Her panting mixed with theirs as she ran, eventually reaching the end of the alleyway and making to turn… only to discover to her horror, that both the direction se had intended as well as the opposite had a bunch of Noise standing there, waiting. Some even stood on the walls as well, like gravity had no effect on them or something.

"No way!"

Hibiki made that exclamation whilst the Noise began to advance upon the trio from both directions, some of them covering the space they had come in from so they couldn't escape. Hibiki had to think fast here, as much as she felt the sensation of death looming over her shoulder, she had to be brave for the children beside her, she couldn't let them experience the fate of being touched by the Noise. Both the children clutched onto her from either side, trembling in fear since they too felt the imminent danger coming for them, prompting Hibiki to look around and notice a river below them. 'Its worth a shot!' she thought, grabbing onto them with one arm each and jumping over the edge, falling into the river below.

SPLASH!

A couple seconds later, Hibiki and the two children surfaced from beneath the river, gasping louder for air as their senses recovered from the sense of being thrown out of order due to the experience. Hibiki didn't stop there though, nor did she let the river's current push her downstream, instead she pushed through and forced herself to swim against the current, reaching the other side and yelling for the two kids to get on over ahead of her. At first the children remained hesitant due to fear, but some quick goading by Hibiki changed that, and as a result the two kids climbed up onto the other side first allowing her to follow after them. The Noise behind the trio didn't remain idle though, as instead they simply swam across the river after them, much to their horror.

Throughout the following hours, Hibiki guided the two children through the city, doing her best to dodge the appearing Noise which seemed to almost be trying to cut off any escape routes they could have taken. The more routes that got closed off, the greater the feeling of being a rat trapped in a cage became within Hibiki's chest as she, carrying the Children on her back as if they were rucksacks, ran for their lives. Despite being in a similar state before when she was running to the CD Store, Hibiki couldn't afford to slow down, not one bit since she feared that if she did, she would be attacked from all sides by the trailing Noise, happened several times already now with each one being dodged just by the skin of their teeth. Worse still, the more she ran the greater Hibiki became aware of one DANGEROUS fact which she tried so hard no to think about, and that was that she had been getting further and further away from the nearest shelter. 'Not good… have to find a safe place… to rest…!'

So many times, did she feel the urge to just give in and accept things as they were…

So many times, did she feel like falling over to the pressure placed upon her chest…

It would have been so easy to just let go…

"Don't give up on life!"

However, as if on some psychological barrier, those words would always appear in her mind.

Those words, spoken to her by that one woman whom had saved her, a woman whom she remembered had a kind smile to her name and sung a brave, powerful song with a fiery resolve.

That woman… she had done her best and put her life on the line to save hers…

So, how could she not do the same for those who needed help? It felt like an insult to her memory if Hibiki didn't try anything, so to that end, she had vowed to herself that she would help anyone who needed it…

Regardless of who it might be.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Hibiki, Tsubasa or her people…

Through the city's night, a lone figure jumped across buildings like a streak of darkness, bathed in it and moving at speeds which made identifying it nothing but a blur. It moved by jumping over buildings, shooting through the air as if gliding through as a means of quickening its pace. If one were to spot this streak and managed to get a better look at it, then they would notice how its movements just screamed how hasty it was to get to somewhere, or rather… to get to a certain someone.

This would hold especially true if they managed to see the sole other identifiable feature on this lone figure's darkness-clad visage:

Their crimson fiery pits, almost in the shape of eyes, burning with an infernal passion and urgency which could only come from someone expressing worry about something. 'Got to hurry…' the figure thought, jumping into the air from a tall building then throwing its limbs backwards, creating a sonic boom which caused it to accelerate at high speeds. Still, this didn't feel like it was enough, not for it, but it couldn't go any faster for the time being otherwise some 'interested parties' might notice its rapid approach. 'I pray I'm not too late…'

* * *

In the end, the sun set beneath the horizon, as Hibiki finally found something which could hopefully work in their favour: a Ladder. One which lead to the top of a building roof within a shut-down power plant. Power Plants normally weren't shut down like this, but Hibiki wasn't going to be thinking about that now when she had the lives of two children on the line, so Hibiki ascended the ladder whilst breathing heavily, her breathing being mirrored by the two children desperately clinging onto her from behind. Her arms burned with the amount of work she had put them through, just like how her chest felt right now, same with her legs… let's just say her whole body felt like it was covered in aches, yeah that sounds just about right.

By the time that they reached the top, Hibiki finally had lost the strength to stand, ending up falling onto her knees as the children landed beside her. Each of them spread their arms and legs out, their chests rapidly rising and falling as they struggled to grasp as much air as possible to force back into their lungs. With the lack of sound indicating that they were being followed, for the moment the trio assumed that for now they had given the Noise the slip, although how long that would remain so would remain up in the air for the time being. This fact couldn't be more known to Hibiki if it TRIED, but she still held on to the belief that she could help them survive this encounter. If not, then she… no, she shouldn't think like that, nope not one bit.

"Um… Mrs?"

"Are we… going to die…?"

Both children looked to their helper, anxious and terrified expressions on their faces, as if they too were aware on an instinctual level that none of this was over just yet, that they were far from being out of this little situation. Sitting up whilst the kids remained on their backs, Hibiki looked down at them and, strangely enough, felt a sense of irony in her heart. Was… was this how that red-haired woman felt when Hibiki herself had been in a similar situation to her? In the end, Hibiki shook her head to soothe their worries, assuring them that she wouldn't let what had happened in the past to many others happen to them as well. "It's okay, you two… everything's fine… it's going to be-"

That was all which managed to escape her mouth, before she immediately ate those words when she looked towards the centre of the rooftop… which just so happened to have a whole horde of Noise on it, all of them leering directly at the trio. The moment that she saw them, Hibiki almost felt like every spec of blood had left her body, fleeing off into the distance for fear of being carbonized into disintegrating chunks. 'How did-when did they get up here?! I didn't even hear them come up!' Hibiki mentally shouted as her body shuddered, her teeth gnashing together as she tried to keep herself from absolutely losing it. She wasn't the only one to be absolutely mortified when the noise appeared, though. Startled, horrified gasps escaped the children as they hurriedly clung onto the advancing creatures, none of them thinking that they could just climb the ladders. The Noise behaved mostly like wild animals, and wild animals didn't respond well to sudden and intense movements.

What… what could she do here?

BA-BUMP!

Putting her arms around the two seemed like it calmed them somewhat, but the two kids buried their heads into her chest so Hibiki didn't think it was doing much good. However, there wasn't much else she could do for them beyond that as her mind scrambled for a solution to this problem at hand.

BA-BUMP!

Surely, there was SOMETHING she could do, right?!

As the Noise closed in on them, only being a few steps away from being able to touch them to reduce them to Carbon, Hibiki gritted her teeth, absolutely REFUSING to let this be the end, pushing through the fear inside as she held her two companions closer to her chest. This would NOT be the end of them, this would NOT be what her efforts would amount to! She's stand and fight to the bitter end to save these children if she had to, she had sworn to herself never to run away when someone needed help, didn't she?! How could she let something like a bunch of Noise get her down?!

BA-BUMP!

With that said, an image of the red-haired woman smiling down at her formed in her mind, her words echoing within and utterly destroying the fear threatening to consume her internally. Instead, Hibiki shouted out with as much passion as she could: "DON'T GIVE UP ON LIFE!"

BA-BUMP!

BA-BUMP!

BA-BUMP!

BA-BUMP!

BA-BUMP!

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

_"…Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron…"_

Words formed within her mouth, alongside something… something else. A voice spoke within her to say those words, and as if hypnotized by it or something along those lines, Hibiki closed her eyes and spoke them out as if she were chanting them at a holy church, even though she wasn't someone who proudly worshipped any deity. She had no idea why she did it, she didn't even stop to think about it and just went with her gut, something she did quite often much to the chagrin of her loved ones. Later, Hibiki would come to question why she had done what she had done regarding those words today, but heck would she complain about it. After all, what followed next… could only be described as a light shining in the darkness.

No, literally, a bright light instantly exploded forth from her chest, shooting up into the skies and sending the Noise stumbling backwards from the ensuing shockwave, even the two children got knocked backwards. It was as if the shockwave did not discriminate, and as such anything which wasn't nailed down to the ground got knocked away from her. The light then split the skies apart, emitting a brilliant golden glow which covered the entire power plant… and its shine didn't go unnoticed.

**"That light…! I see, so that must be where SHE is!"**

"We've isolated the response!"

"We have its exact location!"

"We've detected a high energy source which doesn't belong to the Noise!"

"Identify the wave pattern! Hurry up!"

Heavy duty alarm bells rung through the air, much more than when the first initial Noise response got detected. The sounds of frantic typing on keyboards and many kinds of different beeping noises also followed suit, mixing within one another as the workers throughout the command room scrambled to get a read on the situation. At first things had been relatively normal and routine, what with the intense atmosphere which controlled the scene till they would eventually designate the best spot to deploy their resources at. That was their procedure, not to mention that a few of their resources had already been dispatched to help evacuate any remnants of civilian life away from the soon-to-be warzone which always came about whenever their 'specialized operative' had to go in. However, a change had happened here which threw EVERYBODY completely for a loop. One moment an entire district had been filled with Noise signals, something which would have prompted them to deploy their special operative Tsubasa already, however… right smack in the centre of it all, a new signal suddenly got picked up, and its intensity looked mind-boggling.

Hence, the frantic atmosphere right now

Among them, looking at the specifics, was Ryouko, who sat near one of the room's corners and one of the few people who did NOT look like she was going over the edge into a full-blown panic attack. Although, she had a light bead of sweat over her forehead to show how she too felt the same pressure as the rest of them. Looking at the data, her eyes trembled as a possibility occurred to her, one which gradually became more and more of a reality the more she looked at it. "No, this couldn't be… an Aufbau Wave pattern?!" she muttered, gasping as she quickly made to confirm her suspicion. As a scientist, she should be USED to this kind of hypothetically impossible scenario happening, but right now was one of the exceptions. Then… a codename came up on the monitor thanks to Ryouko's actions, one which nobody thought they would EVER see appear again.

Gungnir.

Genjuro slammed his hands onto the desk in front of him, his face one of someone absolutely stunned. "IS THAT GUNGNIR?!" He shouted, pretty much personifying the chaotic turmoil within the rest of his group, especially with the memories regarding THAT particular word.

It wasn't him who had it the worst though, for that honour belonged to someone else. The moment that word popped up again, a word she had NEVER thought she'd ever see, Tsubasa slowly looked like she had seen a ghost come back from the dead. Her eyes slowly widened as her irises slanted together, her voice seemingly leaving her as PSTD-like tremors assaulted her body. 'No… No! That's… That's not…' the ability to think rationally all but left her at this point, her body frozen just as bad as her mind whilst mentally wishing that this wasn't real, that this wasn't happening. She even tried to think that what she saw was something which could only have occurred in a dream, only no matter how much she tried to deny it, that word refused to leave her sight, forcing her to admit to it as truth. 'Gungnir… Kanade!'

Back with Hibiki…

"Guh…. Ack! Ngh! Grrrrr…!"

All kinds of sounds escaped from the cream haired girls lips, her hair fluttering beside her from the air currents flowing around her. Her form had fallen onto all fours, with a large amount of space being put between her and the Noise surrounding her whilst whatever was happening took place within her body… and not in the painless way, either. Pain erupted through her like a blazing hot furnace mixed with sparks of lightning, making her want to scream out to express the torment she was being put through but inhibiting her from doing so. Her body couldn't move a single muscle no matter how hard her brain tried to tell it to, it felt like something akin to thorns had mixed and mangled with every vein, every pathway and every possible cell her body possessed. Not only that, but through the pain and torment, Hibiki felt something else… something deep down inside the depths of her being coming into existence, as if it were some sort of structure or blueprint. As it did so, her mouth moved on its own, as if controlled not by her but by a puppet master, exposing her canines which looked like they were enlarging themselves, becoming more bestial and animalistic.

Finally, after several moments…

She couldn't take it anymore.

After feeling like something had erupted out of her, Hibiki let out a bone-chilling scream.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Her scream felt like it tore through her lungs, ripping them to shreds like they got hit by the swipes of a tiger's claws as she reared her head backwards towards the heavens like she was challenging the very gods of creation themselves. All the while, from Hibiki's back dozes upon DOZENS of mechanical parts erupted forth, rising up and down like they were each a unified form, a single beating heart thumping outside of Hibiki's shell. At the same time, clothing formed on her body after her previous outfit vanished into particles, forming some metallic areas from parts which detached from the pulsating mass of tech above her. All the while, Hibiki kept howling and roaring like a wild animal, gripping the roof beneath her fists hard enough that cracks formed beneath it.

**(Play OST – Gekisou Gungnir)**

By the time that the process finished, the mass of mechanical parts retreated back inside her body, although her form had become completely different from what it had been before, so it definitely left its mark. Now, her body looked to be donning a completely new getup, consisting of a headphone-like piece over her ears which had two white plates slanted backwards on top of her head. Her figure got covered by an orange and black battle suit, with a white collar around her neck. Her arms up to the forearms got covered by these black gloves with white and orange metallic pieces covering them, forming a pair of gauntlets with turbine-looking structures built into them. Black armoured boots covered her feet up to her kneecaps, giving her a mechanical yet also martial artist kind of vibe.

All in all, she looked like a complete and total boss…

"Huh… Huh? What's going on? What's happening to me?!"

Only for it to get shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, almost akin to a mirror, when Hibiki looked down at herself and noticed the new garb she was now donning. Needless to say, her features formed a mix of shock and confusion, as well as a side dose of panic, at her newest dress change although she didn't have a CLUE about how it came to be. One moment she had been in so much pain it had been like she'd be melted alive from the inside out, then a brief moment of intense euphoria until her mind managed to reboot itself into her current stable mental state. So many questions, questions which hadn't had the chance to form before, formed now within her brain on what the heck had happened to her just now, that for a moment she had forgotten her current situation.

Something which the two children behind her, having gotten back onto their feet and jogged up to her flanks, remedied with their following words:

"Wow! Big sis, you look so cool!"

"Heck yeah, that looks awesome!"

Looking down at them when they spoke to her, the girl first and then the young boy, Hibiki saw how utterly dazzled and happy they were at her current form. Seeing this brought a small smile onto her face, for while their situation hadn't changed much, she could at least get behind this new getup if it helped keep the children calm and didn't frighten them. 'I dunno what happened to me to result in this, but…' she thought whilst looking back at the Noise, whom seem to have gotten over the previous light show and were already making to advance again, prompting Hibiki to gesture for the kids to stay behind her. 'Now that I'm a bit calmer now, I feel… power, I can feel POWER flowing through me. Its so large… Its almost like I'm in the midst of a large river! Yeah… this can DEFINITELY help me protect these two!' with that in mind, Hibiki pulled a stunt from one of the many action movies she'd seen and bumped her fists together in front of her. The resulting CLANG sound filled the air, as well as caused a small upturn of her lips to occur, filling her with excitement, curiosity and eagerness.

To that end, she followed her gut again and began to sing, all the while jumping forwards towards one of the Noise and throwing a punch in its direction. It wasn't anything much, just a simple right hook that she'd seen many times before, and whilst she didn't know what the heck would happen if she punched a Noise in this state, she figured it wouldn't hurt to try. She didn't have many other options honestly, as running away with the children wouldn't solve as much as she would have liked. Not to mention she didn't believe there would be any time left for them TO flee, since from the sounds she was hearing more and more Noise were gathering around this plant, making it nigh impossible to run anymore, thus she would have to take a stand, right here, right NOW.

POW!

The moment her fist slammed into the Noise, her eyes widened as did that of the two kids, when she saw how her fist literally smashed right through the enemy, the flesh around it doing that breaking down thing like it would when catching a human. 'Eh? I can destroy them…?' she wondered briefly, before she quickly pushed that aside for the time being. She'll just take advantage of this instead of wondering what the heck was going on. Ducking down to avoid a lunge made by a Noise, Hibiki hopped up into a Helicopter kick which slammed into the creature from behind, smashing it into dust before she elbowed a following Noise in its face. Glancing upwards when her instincts detected danger there, Hibiki saw several Noise attempting to dogpile onto her position so she quickly tried to jump upwards to punch them...

Only, she ended up shooting herself several hundred feet up into the air instead.

"Wha?! Whaaaaaaaaa?!"

Those cries left her mouth as fast as her falling speed, Hibiki proceeding to flail her arms and legs about like a puppet cut from its strings. By the time she got close to the roof, she noticed that the Noise had been dogpiling on top of one another to try and get to her, which caused her panicked and flustered expression to shift into one of grim determination. "Not yet!" she bellowed, shooting downwards like a falcon as she began twisting herself into a rapidly rotating sausage spin. As a result, her form smashed into the Noise with reckless abandon, disintegrating many of their forces whilst more poured onto the rooftop in their attempt to surround and overwhelm the young cream haired girl.

What followed could only be described as a flurry of motion, as Hibiki found herself forced to launch all kinds of (admittingly sloppy and unpractised) martial arts moves against the Noise like scissor kicks, high kicks, roundhouse kicks, punches, hooks, jabs amongst others in this deadly dance of death itself. Her eyes constantly shifted about through her little dance, perceiving the next attack to her form before its launched and countering at the opportune moment, all the while singing like she were at a soap opera.

That is, until several Noise broke off from the fight to switch targets, going for the two children, something Hibiki noticed. "Hey! Leave them alone!" she yelled, making to give chase only to get surrounded by Noise herself. Her eyes widened as she struggled to break through, but more and more Noise joined their brethren on top the roof, keeping her contained. Over to the kids, the girl shook and trembled in object terror, clutching onto her brother as they got surrounded by the Noise. Just as they jumped towards them with the intent to make them their latest victims, the brother gritted his teeth as he, in a moment of bravery born from the desire to protect his sibling, grabbed her in his arms, lifted her off the ground, and dove straight through one of the gaps between the Noise, falling onto his side but managing to keep them safe for a little while longer. They quickly got up afterwards, horror and fear plastered onto their faces when more Noise charged at them with their arms spread open wide as if to try and hug them…

**"Hmph, impressive, child."**

… All before a streak of black flames crashed onto the rooftop and burned every Noise there.

**(OST paused)**

* * *

"Sir, we have a visual!" called out one of the workers back in the command room, typing away on the monitor as he proceeded to put what he saw on the main one. "We've detected an additional power surge within the centre of the Noise attack. Bringing up the live feed now!"

Genjuro and the others looked towards the main monitor, it having only been a couple minutes since they had let Tsubaa be deployed there to take out the Noise threat and see what was going on throughout the front lines, see if they could get a visual on this supposed 'Gungnir' returning to them after 2 years of being declared they got a live feed from one of their satellite systems, although the feed itself wasn't of typically good quality since the Noise tended to disrupt things such as this. However, despite its blurry state, they saw the live feed showcase the power plant where this battle was going down... as well as a surging black flame on top of one of the roofs.

"So... it looks like SHADOW's arrived too." Ryouko thought in wonder, putting an index finger on her chin as she pondered what he would be doing here. "Strange... its strange that he'd come here, is it to save someone? Is there someone with a connection to SHADOW there...?"

Shaking his head, Genjuro focused on the feed aside from asking unanswered questions. "What's important that he's here, so this provides another chance for us to bring him in. Tsubasa! Make sure to give it you all, SHADOW is there!"

"Roger that!"

Ryouko, as she heard the intense, rushed reply from their operative, couldn't help but shake her head. "That child... she's likely not going to be able to capture him with that mental state of hers. If she's failed before, its likely she'll do so again, SHADOW just seems to have too many advantages over her." she commented, causing the rest of them to grow an intense atmosphere. After all, Ryouko wasn't wrong in her assessment of the situation, nor did they need to ask if she had an idea of how they could capture SHADOW since, like her, they knew next to nothing about him. One of the few things they DID know however, was that he used black fire in all sorts of different ways, from transportation to combat. They'd managed to get feeds of their encounters with the guy and Tsubasa, and the way he fought (read: messed around) with her in them... yeah. Odds weren't looking so good.

"Lets just focus on the Gungnir issue for the time being, SHADOW can be resolved at a later date. Despite evading capture he has still indirectly helped fight the Noise like us, so its clear that he doesn't intend to be our enemy."

"Right!"

* * *

A sharp gasp escaped her lips when Hibiki saw, whilst giving a Noise a good upwards haymaker, a streak of black fire suddenly rush past her from behind and slam into several Noise without any kind of warning. "Eh...? What is...?" the girl wondered, pausing her awkward fighting spree thanks to the recent interruption. She didn't complain any though, since her eyes bore witness to the flames rapidly devouring the Noise they came into contact with without any delay, as if the flames themselves were ravenous, gluttonous beasts intending to devour everything they could get their hands on. More streaks shot around the rooftop, forming walls which blocked off the rest of the Noise reinforcements from the main force. Hibiki could tell this to be the case for several Noise tried to break through, only to wind up being devoured by those infernal, wildly flickering Black Flames. 'These flames, though...I don't get why, but looking at them gives me this... ominous, dangerous feeling. They feel so... sinister, twisted even.' she thought worriedly, a similar trembling sensation rushing down her spine.

Since they came from behind her, Hibiki turned to her rear to see where, or rather, WHO had generated them, to find someone standing in front of the two kids she had been protecting, a long three-tailed hooded trench coat with a high collar fluttering down till it stopped. Whereas she couldn't see the person's face, Hibiki noticed that whilst the girl looked rather awkward and nervous about him, her brother on the other hand looked like he had just met his idol in the flesh who turned out to be a superhero, his mouth open wide and eyes sparkling as he looked to the guy in awe. "Awesome! You look so cool, mister!" he exclaimed joyfully, REALLY digging the person's outfit, Hibiki realized the person had a male gender due to what the boy had said.

**"A big sibling is always meant to protect the younger ones, you did just that. Well done. Now then, I'll take care of these pests, help will arrive shortly." **

The person spoke, and when he did Hibiki shuddered. For some reason, she got the impression of some kind of old fashioned gentlemen from that voice, alongside a bestial feeling as if the person came from the very deepest depths of the darkest abyss. A place where no light could ever have hoped to reach, where only darkness reigned supreme as edgy as that sounded. After consoling the children, the person turned around, and that was when Hibiki noticed the more... sinister parts of his getup, like the darkness surrounding the upper half of his face, the Domino Mask which did the same thing... and those eyes. Those crimson, slitted and SHINING eyes which bore into her own like they wee piercing right into the depths of her very SOUL. Hibiki tried to maintain a strong composure, but it felt like this guy saw right through her flimsy façade in an instant.

However, her thoughts switched tunes when she saw several Noise closing in on the two children from the left and the right, JUST as the person started walking away from them. She quickly made to call out to them... only several black spikes made from those black flames shot out the walls, impaling and devouring the offending Noise without mercy, the person not even looking behind himself though she felt that it was a FACT he had been the culprit. More Noise charged at him with the intent to add him to their many victims, however Hibiki saw him confidently stride forwards with Black Flames sliding forth beside him, the flames latching onto the Noise and devouring them whilst their apparent user stopped before her.

For a moment, the guy stared at her... Until he opened his mouth to speak.

**"Don't be alarmed, help is on the way. Thus, eliminating the Noise is the top priority."**

The person spoke those words whlilst looking to the remaining Noise with the eyes of a hunter, a hunter whom had finally cornered their prey after an extended chase. All the while, the remaining Noise began to shuffle and tremble in an unnatural manner, though that implies that they had something natural about them which would be far from the truth as far as any sane person was concerned. A second or two later, the remaining Noise simply... deformed, like they practically MELTED before their very eyes, their liquidly forms sliding across the ground and mixing together. The Liquid form then shot upwards, forming a body with the lower half forming first, then the middle, arms, and finally a large rectangular head. In the end, looming over them on all fours was a massive beast with green colouring, long spindly limbs disproportionate to its main body, and a head which had a rectangular shape to it and a vent-like opening.

One could guess what that kind of thing would be used for...

However, the masked male just stood there, looking up whilst Hibiki gaped and looked like she would have a panic attack, the sheer size of the thing making it so that all her fighting spirit left her in favour of her flight instincts. It was only due to the fire wall encompassing the roof, knowing what might befall her that kept her from hightailing it out of here, and the safety of the children that she kept herself reasonably composed. Whilst looking up towards the massive green monstrosity above them, the black dressed male narrowed his slitted eyes slightly, and from the wall of flames around them four long streaks shot forth across the ground, converging on his position as the monstrosity made to body slam onto the two.

Hibiki paled when she saw this, and quickly made to warn the masked male, however her warning didn't get a chance to leave her mouth when the four streaks shot upwards once they had reached the masked male's side, reforming themselves into long, tall pillars with sharpened tips. These pillars rose up from four points around him, then pierced right through the massive Noise without any resistance, allowing the flames to quickly spread over its form and, after a couple seconds, vanish leaving nothing remaining of the monstrosity in their wake.

'Whoaaaaa….' Standing there, Hibiki could only gape her jaw at what she had seen, her eyes shaking at just how easily, nigh on ruthlessly, this black dressed male quickly took out the Noise in this wall, incinerating them without mercy. For someone like her, whom had always thought it impossible for her to combat the Noise until just recently, seeing something like this defied all common sense which had been drilled into her. In all fairness though, this entire NIGHT just did that to her, implying the need for her to reconsider what was normal and what wasn't. As he stood there, enveloped by the black flames which he commanded whilst looking out to the rest of the power plant where the vague outlines of Noise could be made, Hibiki could only dream of what he could be thinking right now. Part of her wanted to just ask him who this guy was and what he was doing here, yet another part of her felt that wasn't a good idea. What if he turned out hostile and tried to incinerate HER and the children? A foolish thought process to be sure, considering his previous actions, but who said that fear, like any emotion, was logical and predictable?

Though, as she stared at those black flames, Hibiki began to wonder why she gradually developed a feeling of...

Nostalgia.

'Those flames... why do they look so familiar to me...?'

**"Young lady."**

"Eh?"

Blinking a few times when she heard the unmistakable voice from the masked male, Hibiki saw how he looked at her with a flat, yet determined expression behind those inhuman eyes of his, the flames surrounding him vanishing as he turned to fully face her.

**"All threats in this space have been neutralised, but there still remains the external threat outside. I shall be dealing with them myself, but the question remains: what will you do? The children shall remain inside here, this Firewall will protect them from outside threats."**

His question reached her ears as Hibiki took a moment to process it, realizing what he was trying to tell her as well as present her with a choice. Staying inside here where it was supposedly safe from harm from the outside, or go out there and risk her life fighting against creatures previously thought to be untouchable by someone like her. Thinking about it, her response would have been exactly what one would think she'd go with, knowing her personality. After all, such a decision to her...

"I'll help! I'll fight the Noise, and make sure the kids can get to their parents!"

… well, she couldn't really call it a decision since it involved helping someone, now could she?

Hearing her response, the masked male gave her a short, curt nod, though unbeknownst to her his eyes shone briefly with a look of approval at her resolve. The battlefield was NOT for the weak-minded after all, and though he got the impression that she had a bit of naivety in her, right now that was working WONDERS on her side in keeping her resolve up to max levels. He would have been sorely disappointed should she have chosen the opposite option, but the moment those words had left his lips earlier, he'd gotten the correct assumption that the opposite choice hadn't even entered her mind.

**"Very well. I'll open us a path, just focus on dealing with the smaller ones, I'll help and if we fight any big ones, let me deal with them."**

"Y-Yes sir! Oh, and um, who are you?"

**"... I am SHADOW. That's what I have been designated as recently..."**

* * *

With that decided, the masked male known as SHADOW pulled out his right hand from within his coat, flicking his wrist towards the closest section of the so-called 'Firewall'. As a result, the Firewall pulled itself apart like curtains in a theatre, allowing both Hibiki and SHADOW to jump on outside (after they told the kids to remain inside the Firewall for their own safety). What awaited them, well, was what they'd expected: Noise, and a whole lot of them too. Enough to fill the entire Power Plant with there being many larger green ones and dozens of smaller Noise to deal with. Seeing their numbers caused a brief flash of nervousness and anxiety to overcome Hibiki, only for her to push it aside when she remembered the faces of the two children.

**"I'll open you a path, you use that to kill as many Noise as possible."**

"R-Right!"

Hibiki earnestly responded to SHADOW's words, since she got the impression from that last battle that he was the one with the greater experience here, thus he would be the senior of the two. Plus he looked and seemed a couple years older than her too, so there was that. Although a few seconds later, a thought popped into her mind about how he would exactly 'open a path' for her... only, for her question to become null and void when she noticed him hold his right hand out. Shed expected him to shoot some incredible fire attack or do some manipulation stuff like he'd done before, but instead his flames came out and formed a metallic weapon instead, one which reminded her of... well, an anti-tank rifle she'd seen in a few action movies.

**"Schlagen… fire."**

In that one moment, SHADOW pulled the trigger after the barrel began to glow a bright crimson colour, letting loose a single round towards the space they were falling towards. The moment that the bullet hit its mark, a MASSIVE wave of Black Flames rushed out in ever direction across the ground, incinerating the Noise there on contact and allowing them to have a safe landing. Both thus landed with two THUDs within a small crater, ell, SHADOW did whilst Hibiki, because of her ungraceful landing, lost her balance and, after a few seconds of being panicked and flustered whilst flailing her arms about, fell flat on her face. "Ow, that sucks..." she mumbled, quickly getting up on her feet again.

Seeing her embarrassing moment but not commenting on it, SHADOW pointed his Schlagen towards the direction which had more of the larger Noise, not saying anything although Hibiki didn't need him to. She understood perfectly what he wanted to say, so she just gave him a nod, a thumbs up and a big grin, prompting him to silently nod at her before jumping off with an explosion of fire occurring beneath his feet, propelling him forwards like a springboard. Hibiki couldn't help but watch as he shot several rounds at a couple large Noise whilst he flew through the air, making it look like several streaks were branching off him and resulting in him making damn HEADSHOTS every time.

A shuffling sound later, and Hibiki came out of her trance, shaking her head as she got herself back into her previous composure, slapping her cheeks in her attempt to self-motivate herself. 'Alright, here we go girl! Time to protect those kids!' she thought in determination, clenching her fists which allowed her to hear their metallic mechanical noises whilst she got ready to fight, her mouth opening as she made to sing...

_"Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron…"_

… only for her to then hear the sound of a song remarkably similar to what she'd sung before, causing Hibiki to go wide-eyed. 'Eh? What was...?' she began to wonder, only for her unasked question to wind up getting answered in the next instance when she heard the sound of a motorcycle engine from nearby. Turning her head to look towards the source, Hibiki became witness to the sight of a large cloud, one which followed the silhouette of a Motorcycle bashing through ANY Noise which were foolish enough to get in its way. Not to mention that she managed to catch a glimpse of the rider, and her eyes widened even MORE at the flailing blue locks which identified her faster than her matching eyes and stern expression did. "Tsubasa...?" she mumbled under her breath, confusion filling her being.

Tsubasa, clad in an orange coat with a black form-fitting dress and her thigh high boots, jumped off her Motorcycle which slammed into a group of Noise, knocking them down. Flipping through the air, the blunette became bathed in light, emerging from it and falling towards the ground clad in her blue suit and armour. The armour plates on her body shifted to reveal their vents, before flattening as she stood up once again, glancing over to the dumbfounded cream haired girl. When she did so, she saw the outfit Hibiki sported now, and she had to force herself to remain composed and dignified, the fact that she had entered the battlefield helping her with this massively. 'That outfit... yeah, she's the one... she's the one who has Kanade's...!' She thought, her left hand twitching with the desire to do something she likely would get punished for, but the sounds of explosions in the distance brought her away from her murderous intentions. Glancing towards the source of the sounds, Tsubasa felt the inner bloodlust inside of her slam into her restraints with much greater ferocity than before, fury igniting inside of her at the sight of some familiar streaks of black flames forming headshots with the larger Noise. 'So... that's where SHADOW is, then...! Tch, this day just keeps getting better and better...' she thought with a dangerous scowl forming on her lips, now finding herself torn on whether to demand answers out of the girl or go after the person whom she held a large grudge against.

**(OST ****Zettō Ame no Habakiri Plays)**

In the end though, she put those things aside for the time being as she drew her Katana from one of her waist plates, speaking like a drill instructor to Hibiki without looking at her, she didn't know what she would end up doing if she did. A sword was meant to not have emotions, a sword was not meant to have emotions... "Stay at the rear! Don't get in my way." she stated coldly, before jumping off into a slashing frenzy, all the while proceeding to sing like Hibiki had done before. Her speed, as Hibiki soon realized, far surpassed that of her own as her Katana gleamed menacingly in the moonlit skies above, as she closed the distance between herself and one of the smaller, blob like Noise first. She brought her Katana down in a diagonal downward two-handed slash, cutting the thing in half whilst quickly switching her slash's direction to slice through several humanoid-looking ones.

Using the positioning she'd found herself in after her last slash to get into a handstand with practiced ease, Tsubasa deployed her Ankleblades and unleashed an INVERSE DEMON, slicing through a majority of the noise before she pushed herself up into the air, unleashing a rain of Blades from her surroundings in the form of RAIN OF TEARS. Landing on the ground in the middle of a bunch of disintegrating Noise, Tsubasa side flipped over a slug-like one, slicing it in half before coming down and bringing her Katana down onto a humanoid Noise in an overhead slash, jumping to the left and going into a tornado spin, tearing her way through the Noise with reckless abandon. One tried to jump on top of her in a bodyslam, only for Tsubasa to get onto her hands, deploy her Ankleblades and utterly shred the thing to pieces whist it remained in the air, using her position to flip over some more slug Noise.

Once she landed, Tsubasa gripped her Katana and made to shift it into its Greatsword form, but then she noticed the Noise point their limbs towards her, their limbs seemingly sucking the rest of them inside and becoming long streaks which flew towards her. Tsubasa however, reacted promptly by entering a series of slashes, thrusts, parries etc like a dancing blade in the moonlight, deploying and disarming her Ankleblades between every few attacks to keep her defences airtight. She didn't want to spend too much time on these small fry, not when the big fish was on the opposite side of the power plant blasting Noise left and right if the explosions intensifying there were anything to go by. As the attacks stopped, Tsubasa looked around to see how many Noise were left, and to her frustration there were still a sizable amount here. 'There truly is a lot of them here... why?' she wondered.

Glancing over to Hibiki's side of the battlefield when she heard her war cries... Tsubasa quickly ended up with the feeling of wanting to facepalm herself as well as smack the daylights out of the girl for how pathetic, clumsy, unrefined and broken her flailing of her bodyparts looked to her. Honestly she could hardly call what she had seen fighting, just her trying to look cool by vaguely remembering fights from things of the past. 'Ugh, this brat...!' she cursed inside her mind, utter fury blossoming inside her chest. 'No, you must not lose focus, Tsubasa! Remember, you're a blade, a blade which must act without things as shameful as feelings...! Don't let this impede your judgement...' she chanted mentally, shaking her head as she once again focused on the task at hand.

A task which would continue well into the ever-expanding darkness of the night.

**(OST Ends)**

* * *

Hours later, the Noise all got eliminated, they got absolutely WRECKED by a combination of these three, although Hibiki performed the lowest in terms of combat prowess but that's to be expected of her, since this WAS her first time on the battlefield. One would be correct in assuming her to be something like a 'noob' in all this. Tsubasa and SHADOW had the most kills, although by the time that the last Noise fell beneath her blade, Tsubasa took to finding where SHADOW had been located... only, to her ever-building frustration he had already vanished from the scene like he had never been there in the first place. Though, the only sign of him having remained there would have been all the craters and fissures formed from his arsenal of weaponry, an arsenal that Tsubasa, whilst majorly in the dark about for the most part, she still could identify it to be the cause of something with but a glance.

In the end however, the original mission objective had been achieved, with the Noise horde eliminated and the children (whom the Firewall let free when SHADOW had vanished) being saved from being added to their extensive victim's list. Right now, a bunch of people in uniforms and suits had arrived in various forms of transports, such as limos, medical vans, etc, with men in fireman getups cleaning up the dirt piles which had once been the Noise. Some o the suited people tended to the young girl and boy whom had told them their combined story, having been separated from their mother shortly after the Noise' initial appearance, prompting them to start looking for where the mother would have been. Hopefully she would have reached the nearest Shelter like how civilians were meant to have done, unlike Hibiki herself.

Speaking of said girl, currently she was located not too far from the two kids, wanting to keep them at least in her sights so she didn't have to worry about them. She stood silently, her mind swimming with the memories of what had recently happened whilst still clad in the same outfit she had apparently donned in order to properly fight back the Noise incursion. Whilst she had several questions about what she had just went though, Hibiki didn't put them into too much focus for the time being since she wanted to make sure everything here would be settled, Only then, would she start probing for answers, answers she felt sure that only one person whom she knew here would be able to give her.

"Here."

"?!"

When she heard a female mature voice, Hibiki looked to the source after momentarily blinking in confusion, her thoughts and internal opinions taking a sharp grind to a halt. The person whom spoke to her, turned out to be an adult woman whom had a warm, almost parental smile on her face as she handed her what looked to be a cup, a cup which Hibiki took and noticed it was filled with some steaming hot coffee. She had short dark blue, almost blackish hair which reached her chin, with purplish coloured eyes whilst her outfit looked to be a dark blue overcoat, white shirt with a red tie, a skirt, black tights and black flat shoes. "Have this, its some warm coffee, it will nourish you." she suggested kindly.

The smile she gave caused Hibiki to relax somewhat, since the stress of the night had worn her down significantly. Nodding at her, Hibiki held the cups to her lips whilst the woman left to take care of some other business, what kind Hibiki wasn't sure on but she couldn't focus too much on it since the allure of the hot drink soon took her attention. A soft moan of pleasure escaped her throat when she felt the hot liquid spill down her throat, soothing it and ridding it of aches she didn't even realize she had. The amount of relief she felt from the drink could not be done justice, hence the moan of pleasure as well as the follow-up exhale of relief after Hibiki lowered the cup, eyes closed as she savoured the first bout of normalcy she had the entire night. 'Ahhhh, so goooood…' she thought in pleasurable bliss.

Although, a couple seconds after that did she notice something, a feeling of power suddenly leaving her which caused Hibiki to open her eyes wide with a start. Glancing down at herself, she noticed that her outfit had this strange golden glow about it... which didn't last long before it shattered into nothingness, revealing her original highschool uniform. "Wha?!" Hibiki exclaimed, the surprise of the event causing her to drop the coffee onto the ground beside her whilst also losing her centre of balance. Panic flooded her system as she flailed her arms to try and desperately regain her balance, but just before she could lose and fall over, Hibiki suddenly found some arms wrap around her from beneath her arm pits whilst a chest became her support from behind, stopping her fall. 'Eh? Who is...?'

Nevertheless, using the newfound support, Hibiki regained her footing and turned around, quickly getting into a bow with her eyes closed. "Um, thank you-" Hibiki began, before she looked up and bore witnessed to the calm, cool gaze of a certain blue haired idol staring down at her. A short gasp escaped Hibiki's lips in realization, then joy as she resumed her gratitude with much more vigour than before. "Thank you very much!" Silence was her received answer, as Hibiki looked back up to see Tsubasa starting to turn away from her, likely intending to attend her own matters, Hibiki felt. Therefore, she decided to at least let her know of the following before she lost her current opportunity, the fact that she had been waiting 2 years to speak to her playing no small part in this choice too. "This is actually the second time you've saved me!"

"...Second time?"

The moment that she heard that, Tsubasa paused her stride, glancing back towards the cream haired girl out of the corner of her left blue eye. For a moment, a brief flash of emotion could be seen from that lone blue orb, only for it to vanish a second later, though Hibiki just had her eyes closed with a wide grin and her right hand holding up a V sign with her fingers, so she didn't notice.

"Mom!"

The outcry of the two kids then got her attention, pulling Hibiki's focus away from the blunette to see the two kids rushing into the arms of their mother, whom looked like an older version of the young girl. "Oh, thank goodness you two are alright!" the Woman exclaimed, her shoulders trembling whilst she looked like she had begun practically squishing he two kids in her hugs. The mother, along with her two children, each unleashed a storm's worth of tears thanks to their reunion, each of them holding onto one another like they would lose them permanently if they did otherwise, prompting a bright and happy smile from the young girl. Not to mention a sense of accomplishment, since their happiness had been a result of HER efforts, mostly.

SHE had been able to guide them here.

SHE had managed to keep them alive up till this point.

SHE had managed to save them from the Noise.

These facts reminded her of the vow she had made in the memory of that redhead woman all those years ago, and she felt a wave of contentment wash over her knowing she had managed to fulfil her vow this time. These thoughts caused a frown of worry and uncertainty for the future to form on Hibiki's lips as she looked up to the night sky above. She would have been an idiot to think that this would be where it all ended, definitely. Hibiki didn't believe this would be over, not one bit. She wouldn't stop helping people, animals, whatever, she'd live her life this way in her name.

Just then, she noticed another woman, this one seemingly different from the one whom offered her Coffee with her black hair and blue eyes, walk on over to them, holding something in her hand which resembled a holographic clipboard now that she managed to focus on it. "Could you please sign this form of consent after reading through it?" she requested, holding it out to her whilst the woman, whom still possessed bloodshot eyes from weeping so much in her moment of relief, confusedly reached out for it. Once she took it and began skimming through the contents, wanting to get back to hugging her two young again, the blue haired woman began to speak once again. "As this incident is considered top secret information, in order to prevent its possible disclosure to other entities, we will be placing restrictions on your movements and actions. Do take note that if your found colluding with foreign governments, you will be prosecuted for crimes against the country..."

And so, the woman went on about a bunch of legal stuff which only served to baffle and confuse the reunited family all the more. All the while, Hibiki sweat dropped as she got the impression that things around here were about to get real complicated alright. More so than they already were, something she didn't find herself wanting to deal with right now. 'Plus, I bet Mku is worried sick about me right now, I haven't had a chance to tell her what happened with the CD and stuff...' let it be known that, whilst Hibiki internally lamented the loss of her precious CD and bonus material, it couldn't really be compared to saving the lives of two children. With these things in mind, Hibiki proceeded to step away from these, heading towards one of the entrances to the rest of the city. "Well then... I think I should be going."

Only... one problem occurred, and that was that, as if switched on by some signal, a bunch of men in black suits and shades surrounded her, blocking off any escape path whilst Tsubasa stood among them. This, understandably, knocked Hibiki off her rocker as she stumbled backwards, looking around with an expression not too unlike that of a cornered mouse, confusion and anxiety erupting within her eyes as she tried to figure out what the heck had just happened. Not to mention how the entire atmosphere had changed for her, as unlike the calm and relaxing one before, this atmosphere had become tension-filled, thick and the like, almost to a suffocating level which idly forced her to audibly gulp, images of what would usually happen in this scenario in those action movies she had seen. 'Are they... are they going to attack me? Do I have to fight?' Hibiki worriedly thought, not to happy about that, and THAT could be considered a major understatement.

Soon, Tsubasa's quiet yet firm voice rung out, causing Hibiki to look at her, though the blunette refused to meet her gaze as she held her arm with her right hand. "We can't let you leave like this. You'll need to come with us to the second division of the self defence countermeasures unit." She spoke, rather uneasily too though Hibiki didn't focus on that. Instead, she couldn't help but blink like an owl with several confused owl-like sounds escaping her when all of a sudden, she found her hands to be trapped within large, metallic and futuristic-looking Handcuffs. An apologetic smile came from the one whom had cuffed her, a man with brown hair and matching eyes wearing a formal blue suit similar to the one the coffee-offering woman wore before.

"Eh? EH?! W-WHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

* * *

**"There she goes..."**

Standing atop a building not too far from the Power Plant, the hidden form of SHADOW gazed intently towards the convoy of long, black cars as they drove off, taking an understandably befuddled and downright terrified-out-of-her-mind Hibiki away from the formerly Noise-ridden battleground. His coat flapped behind him as if being blown by an imaginary breeze, the three coattails looking more like sentient vipers than pieces of fabric whilst the lean-built male kneeled on one leg, observing everything that had went down. Most importantly, SHADOW narrowed his crimson, slitted eyes towards the car which had the cream haired girl in, his expression hidden thanks to the darkness but if one could sense his bodily aura right now, they would sense a SHRED of the conflicting emotion inside of him. He did not enjoy this, not one bit, watching an innocent girl get dragged into the world which Hibiki would soon become an integral part of, even if she had already done so by her own will, manifesting that armour and suit he meant. He figured that the answers as to why that would be was to do with the incident 2 years ago, since he could see a few similarities to the gear which that redhead woman, Kanade, had worn. 'The fact that its only manifested now, worries me... not to mention that people may come after her should word of her abilities get out... Still, those thoughts can be sorted in time, what I'm worried about is how they'll treat her...'

**[I wouldn't be worried about the girl. She seems to have a great level of importance to these people, from what we have observed. It is likely that they will just have some questions for her, though I understand your hesitation.]**

A low, dark voice spoke in the back of SHADOW's mind, its tone being demonic alongside the dark edge to it, not to mention there was a layer of refinement to it, making the voice have a resemblance of a mix between demon, dark and gentleman. SHADOW however, showed no physical reaction to the voice's words, making sure to keep is gaze focused on the convoy. Part of him wanted to just tail them from the shadows to make sure Hibiki would be alright, since he had a good idea of where those people would be taking her, but didn't necessarily have any way of tailing them past a certain point. Not t mention that he REFUSED to hand himself over to those people, whomever they were, for if there was one thing SHADOW despised more than anything, its adults, To him, adults were some of the most untrustworthy, unsavoury characters around, and unlike most people his age, SHADOW actually had good reasoning behind his opinions. Still, so far these people hadn't necessarily shown themselves to be like the ones he had been used to the proof being how they have been making sure that no innocents were harmed because of them. If only that samurai woman didn't have it out for him, that also was a bi no-no on the whole revealing himself to them front, though generally SHADOW's trust levels for adults generally weren't that favourable or positive to begin with so he'll stick to that for now. 'True, they DO seem to know more about her situation than we do, so we'll keep an eye on her. Should she show any signs of being abused...' SHADOW thought, his eyes gaining a stronger glow temporarily whilst his right hand trembled after it clenched into a fist. '...or the like, i'll go and incinerate every last one of them.'

**[Indeed. Now then, we should focus on our own matters. It seems one of THEM is growing restless. I sense that this night is not yet over for us, unfortunately.]**

Hearing the voice's words, SHADOW frowned beneath his hood. He didn't like the sound of that, but he could still understand what it was saying, for his instincts told him the very same thing. The air around them still reeked of blood, meaning that there was still work for him to do for the night. The general populace may be all focused on the whole Noise threat, but there are WAY more things that go bump in the night than just them, horrors which have long since been forgotten and have only recently started to resurface when humanity was at its lowest point. He'd seen this truth a long time ago, and with the power he now wielded, he'll make sure those horrors knew, that NOBODY should piss him off... cause they wouldn't be living much longer afterwards.

With that said, SHADOW hopped off the building he had perched himself on, and into the darkness below, right where he belonged.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Hey guys, sorry this chapter took a while to update, since this is my first time writing a symphogear fic, I have had to stick with watching the episodes I'm currently writing about to get the best details possible, whilst adding my own pieces to flesh things out. As you've seen, the plot is slowly unravelling around the main cast, with some ominous tidings foreshadowed by SHADOW himself. We've also seen just how he seems... strangely concerned about Hibiki's safety, not to mention the distrust he has for the second division. Wonder what the story is there? Also, to be real, I had thought about him revealing himself and his true identity in this chapter, but to be frank it wouldn't suit the character I'm building him up as if he did that. There's only going to be a few things that could cause him to change his mind, but I'll not say more than that for spoiler reasons. **

**Also, if you want to know what the voice speaking to SHADOW at the end sounds like, imagine Arsene's voice from Persona 5 (yeah, expect a few elements from that game to come about here, cause honestly its definitely deserving of the love it gets). Hope you all enjoy the chapter, and i'll see you all in the next one.**

**Peace Out!**


	6. Chapter 6 - Gungnir

**Chapter 6 – Gungnir**

"Maaaaannnn… I'm beat…"

Following one hell of a wild ride-like night, Hibiki Tachibana felt like she solely managed to get back to her dorm room by sheer fumes. Utter exhaustion wrecked her body like thousands of sledgehammers smashing into her without mercy, to the point where she pretty much felt numb all over her body. It felt way worse too, thanks to the… hectic events which had followed afterwards, never mind the revelations she'd found out about the blunette idol she'd been looking to meet for the last couple years. At this point, all she wanted to do more than anything, was to get a good night's sleep, or perhaps a week, yeah that sounded nice. The thought of lying in her warm, comfy bed with her quilt covering her and her head within the soft confines of a pillowcase felt strangely appealing to the cream haired girl.

She practically walked back to her dorm room like a zombie, moaning like one with unfocused, practically dead-looking eyes with some bags starting to form beneath them, some of her hair being unruly with some drool coming out the left corner of her mouth, in essence she looked like she'd keel over at any second when she finally reached her dorm room's entrance. Not too far now, she figured weakly, not long now until she could finally get the rest, she so desperately craved. Weakly lifting her right arm which felt heavier than a pile of lead to her right now, Hibiki slowly turned the doorknob and leaned on its frame upon opening it. Part of her vaguely registered some noise coming from the room, sounding suspiciously like some kind of TV Broadcast, although Hibiki couldn't be bothered to think about it. "I'm back." She lazily drawled, temporarily falling asleep with a bubble coming out of her nose.

Upon hearing her lazy greeting, a series of footsteps reached the tired girl's ears. From the opposite side of the slight walkway to the living room section of their dorm room, out came Miku, who'd stepped forth into view. If Hibiki had the strength to raise her head right now, she would have noticed how her childhood friend had changed into a more casual outfit: a pink hoodie with darker pink outlines over the pouch, hood and cuffs, with a pair of dark blue shorts and black tights. The moment her eyes set foot on the weary girl, Miku's own widened in shocked surprise as she made a low exclamation. "Hibiki…!"

Barely acknowledging her friend's statement, Hibiki slowly trudged into the room, holding her bag (which apparently had been retrieved by the same people whom quite literally took her into custody, although she didn't have the strength to be relieved or play the CD which they'd given her for free). She only made it to the very centre of the room, all before letting her bag drop to her side and fall to the ground face first, spreading her arms out and sighing in relief at not having to place more burden on her aching feet. "Where did you wander off to this time?"

"Sorry…"

"Sheesh…" Seeing how tired her friend looked, Miku restrained herself from asking further on where she could have been after a begrudging sigh. Seriously, her friend had been gone for hours since the end of school today, and at first Miku had been only SLIGHTLY concerned for her friend, since Hibiki would usually return home from any mess she'd found herself in, mostly due to the 'dark knight' named Tai who'd shown just as strong protectiveness over her as Miku herself. However, as time passed her worry only grew and grew, to the point where she had tried to contact Hibiki via phone call, only her call didn't patch through for some reason, and it wasn't like she could call Tai either since she didn't have his number, either. She had to massage her forehead to soothe the upcoming headache her brain went through because of Hibiki, as Miku then put both hands on her hips whilst standing beside the prone girl. "I was really worried, you know! They said that a Noise sighting had occurred near here!" she proclaimed, frowning with her cheeks flushed from the concern oozing from her words like a waterfall.

"Yes, but it's okay now…"

As much as she would like to assure her friend that things were alright proper, Hibiki found that her energy levels were just too low for that. Though, with the kind of day that she had gone through since school ended, one couldn't really blame her for being pooped, since it wasn't often that one managed to fight against a supposedly untouchable enemy, find out that the idol you look up to actually does the same thing, and then get taken into custody by the people whom said idol worked with. Speaking of which, THAT had been an experience, one which could pretty much be summarized as a major eye-opener. Apparently, Division 2 was a section of the military which operated from this giant underground tower thing, which lead to this secret underground command room where she had been introduced to Tsubasa's colleagues in a… rather befuddling manner. She guessed that it had to do with slowly easing her into things, something which Hibiki appreciated, even if they went a bit overboard to the point where she had to force a strained laughter out.

They were led by a man named Genjuro, Genjuro Kazanari who turned out to be Tsubasa's uncle of all things, though judging by his and her personality Hibiki wouldn't have guessed since they seemed like the exact opposite of one another. Aside from that though, she DID get freed from her restraints, and the visit had been rather pleasant otherwise, even if near the end she had to get literally dragged into a medical examination room by one of the staff members. She did not want to even THINK about that medical examination that the Scientist/doctor/researcher lady called Ryouko did to her, she almost felt dirty each second the thing went on. Sure Ryouko, for all her teasing and seductive allure remained professional throughout the whole thing and mentioned she would need to return for the results of her check-up since they would take time and it was getting late, but Hibiki dreaded the thought of eventually going back into that crazy world beneath the teacher's dorms.

Though, even in her weary state of mind, her thoughts then wandered to the sole other element of the night which she hadn't gotten a bit of info about… the mysterious black dressed dude calling himself SHADOW. As edgy and cringy as that name suggested, Hibiki got the feeling that the name actually fit the guy, since not only did his dress code have all that black on it (part of her even wondered if it would create super dark shadows when exposed to sunlight), but the way he moved and fought on the battlefield felt like… nothing, like he wasn't even there. A simple ghost or a phantom, skulking through the fighting and picking off targets before they could react… well, that image had been partially ruined by the massive gun he called… what was it again? She couldn't recall right now, but to her it sounded German, if she were to try and place it under a language category. Despite having encountered him just then, Hibiki knew next to nothing about him, having not gotten the chance to ask those Division 2 guys if they had anything due to being swept up by their current, not to mention that it seemed as though they wanted to make sure she was properly eased into things before they got down to business. None of this would be over, nor would it be a dream she'd wake up from in the morning… Hibiki wasn't whether she liked the thought of that for not.

For now, Hibiki decided that getting some good sleep would help her out, plus she had school tomorrow, so it wasn't like she had any other option on the matter. Idly, she overheard the broadcast mention about the blunette idol she had just monologued about, mentioning on how she'd received an offer to go international by some big shot company person, but right now she found herself too tired to care about that at this point. The following night, Hibiki would end up sleeping like a log, only occasionally sleep hugging her roommate since they shared the same bed, a habit that they'd done since their children days. Then again, Miku and Hibiki always DID refer to each other as each other's 'sunshine' and the 'lights' which they clung to.

* * *

Meanwhile…

The hot shower water dripped down her fair maiden skin, creating numerous trails as the sound of the running shower filled one Tsubasa Kazanari's ears. The said blunette stood in the shower cubicle of her room, planting her hands on one of the walls as she hung her head, her brain reeling from the information and revelations which had happened here. Her eyes glinted with a menacing gaze, similar to someone about to lose all control and go on a crazy rampage or something, which could very well describe the emotional storm she found herself going through at the moment.

Whilst Tsubasa made every effort not to do so, since a blade like her wasn't meant to feel these kinds of things as she repeatedly chanted to herself, Tsubasa couldn't help it. As of right now, she was alone with nothing to distract her from these heretical thoughts, no Noise, no commander, no business, nothing, just herself in this shower. Hence, why these damned thoughts found it much easier to surface into the forefront of her mind to torment her further.

As a result of this, Tsubasa grimaced, a bitter snarl escaping from her throat as she resisted the urge to slam her fists into the wall as an outlet for the emotions inside of her. After all, she'd been suppressing how she felt for the last 2 years, so some more wouldn't make much of a difference. She likely wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight, but that didn't bother her much, since it would mean that she would be able to briefly escape the nightmares. The nightmares of wat had happened back then, 2 years ago, when she'd suffered the ultimate failure in her eyes.

With those thoughts, came back the memories, memories of better days… of a distant past which Tsubasa both longed for as well as scorned herself for thinking about, though it wasn't like she could help it either. Back then, things had been so much easier, so much simpler and joyful, back when Zwei Wing had both its wings ready to shoot into the skies, soaring with the freedom only a true bird could possess. They'd gone on so many missions together, amassing an extensive track record whilst also enduring all kinds of hardships together, both from the Noise as well as from the people they were supposed to be the protectors of. After all, Division 2 had to be established based off feats and results, that had been the condition for their founding by her uncle back then, which had been why Tsubasa's work in the past had so much weight to it, work which had been made MUCH easier thanks to the assistance and mentoring of her only true friend… Kanade Amou.

Tsubasa's fists clenched whilst still being pinned to the shower wall, an equivalent to an emotional bomb exploding inside of her gut. Just THINKING about her caused a wave of emotions to ripple through her, Tsubasa growling under her throat as she remembered the cream haired girl who currently wielded Gungnir… Kanade's gear…

With its former, TRUE wielder being in the situation she was…

It was almost too much for her to bear, although Tsubasa kept what she felt inside, inside for the time being.

'That Gear… is Kanade's…'

* * *

The following morning came almost too fast if one were to ask Hibiki Tachibana. She wanted to have like an eternity in the bedroom so she could rest without worry, but unfortunately life had to suck with its curses and thus she had obligations to get her out not the world. As such, she acted like a barely awake zombie whilst getting up, brushing her teeth, showering then getting dressed for the day, something which Miku noticed but didn't comment on. She'd seen this WAY too many times for her to be bothered by it anymore, and back in the past Hibiki would stay up late with her parents and watch movies together with them, as a way of spending time with family since their lives back then were rather… hectic, to say the least.

Things didn't get much better for the young cream haired girl throughout the day, if anything Hibiki dreaded it the most since she still had that appointment to keep with the second division… especially if she wanted answers to her questions a last. Shudders of dread filled her at the thought of being nearly molested by Ryouko though, as much as Hibiki didn't want to have such a negative opinion of the woman, she could be quite scary to her sometimes, especially once she found something interesting. She just had that air about her, something Hibiki had noticed WAY early on into their first meeting. Though, she DID have concerns about one thing Ryouko had told her, something which had even agreed to by the rest of the group, and that would be that she'd not be able to tell anyone about whatever would happen or what had happened at the Noise attack yesterday.

If there was anything which Hibiki was thankful for aside from the drowsiness, it would be the fact she didn't have the chance to get asked about it by Miku, lord knows she would NEVER want to lie to her best friend, if she could help it. They'd made a promise about telling each other everything after all. Morning classes were a chore for her too, though at least she found herself able to show up on time, so she didn't get the expected scolding from the teacher, so that could be counted as a plus. Though if she were frank, this current issue prevented her from really caring too much about school at this point, the other issue just seemed much more important.

In current times Hibiki sat at her desk in the classroom, having just finished the period and would be going out for her lunch break… or rather, that was what she initially had planned anyways as the following events would serve to drastically alter her plans. A low sigh escaped her lips as she placed the second last item back into her bag, thoroughly relieved that she had finished the period without messing up too much. She'd be the first to admit that she was a clumsy girl, after all, when all of a sudden, she heard the sounds of multiple footsteps coming from nearby, turning her head to see some of her friends coming over to her.

"Hey Bikki." One of them, a girl with short beige coloured hair with a slightly longer strand on the left side of her face and pinkish-red eyes greeted, Hibiki recalled her name being Kuriya Ando, and had been one of the girls whom Hibiki and Miku had met shortly after enrolling into Lydian Music Academy. Several others including Miku being present, one of them was a girl on the shorter sight of the height situation, with green eyes and medium length brown hair tied into two pigtails with pink ribbons, another being a girl with medium length slightly curled blond hair with her bangs cut straight and honey brown eyes. She wore a white headband with a small bow on the left side. These two were called Shiori (the blonde girl) and Yumi (the brunette) respectively, and they had been introduced by Kuryia shortly after the induction ceremony. All in all, as one might expect girls like to hang out in packs, and this case would be no exception. "You want to head with us to Flower?" she questioned.

Upon seeing the confused look that the girl sported, Shiori opted to elaborate on what the taller girl had meant with her following explanation. "Its an Okonomiyaki Store near the Station, seems like its been getting rather popular recently. People have been saying that the food there's delicious, too." She explained, and for the short time that she'd known Hibiki, she had gotten the impression that she liked to eat delicious foods, plus it got her away from the school which, to be honest, Shiori felt Hibiki struggled in a fair bit, even for a new student. Mostly in schoolwork and showing up on time, but yeah.

However, Hibiki awkwardly laughed it off, rubbing the back of her head whilst offering a forced smile to her friends. "Ehehehe, that sounds like fun guys, but I can't. I got something to do today." She told them with an apologetic tone of voice, thinking about the summons to the Division 2 underground headquarters.

"Ah, another summons? Your life is like that of an Anime Character, I swear…"

Whilst her friends gave her equally apologetic looks, each of them promising to invite her along next time if she was free, Miku's face contorted into one of concern, worry blossoming inside of her when she thought about what her friend had been like when she had returned last night. She didn't understand why, but she got the feeling that something had begun that night, and right now it seemed like this was some sort of continuation. She'd of course didn't get a chance to ask Hibiki what it had been this morning due to how irresponsive she tended to be when in her 'zombie mode' but thinking back on it Miku wished she had asked anyways, just so she could figure out what had happened that night.

* * *

Later, Hibiki got dragged out of the classroom after she had waited till everyone else had left for their lunch periods, with some like her friends venturing outside the campus whilst others stayed inside, with boxed lunches made either at home or in their cooking classes which weren't as prioritized as the music and general ones, but were still somewhat relevant to the curriculum. Fortunately, the periods today only happened in the morning, so the afternoon could be spent however the students wished for it, thus Hibiki wouldn't have had to worry about schoolwork or lessons being missed. Not to mention she'd gotten dragged there by Tsubasa of all people, and just like the last time they'd met she had acted cold and distant from her, not even trying to talk to her when Hibiki had tried to greet her in her ever-cheery mindset.

Which resulted in the following situation to unfold before her…

"Now then, lets explain the results of your medical check-up!"

An ever-cheery Ryouko exclaimed that whilst she stood before the teenage girl, wearing her signature white lab coat with a pink dress beneath it. Hibiki sat on an examination bed, having been 'convinced' to go through a second check-up, just too check if there were any additional abnormalities as Ryouko had called them… though this time, there had been two additional witnesses to the whole thing, the woman who'd offered the Coffee called Aoi, and the brown haired man (who'd been the one to cuff her the first time, the second time belonging to Tsubasa) called Sakuta. Aside from them, Genjuro and Tsubasa who'd hung back from the assembled group, were also in attendance. Normally, Ryouko would have initiated the check-up on her lonesome, but this time Genjuro had requested there to be witnesses due to how… shaken, Hibiki had been the first time when she'd performed it on her. One could almost swear that Ryouko had… pouted, when this order had been given, like she'd been deprived of a precious pet that she had gotten close to.

In any case, the results of the check-up displayed themselves on an in-built monitor which came down from the ceiling. It showed varying pieces of information, info which only Ryouko could properly understand due to her profession whilst the others required her to explain things verbally. "Aside from the fatigue left behind by your wonderful first experience…" She began, though the wording that the woman had used caused Hibiki to shudder involuntarily. "We found almost NOTHING wrong with your body!"

"Almost, huh?"

At hearing the lack of enthusiasm from Hibiki's words, Ryouko hummed in thought for a moment, before realizing exactly what the cause of such was. "Oh right, that's not what you're really after here, is it?" she remarked, a knowing smile forming on her crimson lipstick-covered lips, her eyes twinkling as she waited for the teenage girl to finally start asking the questions which had been eating her up from the inside. Something which didn't take long, not even a couple seconds which showed how urgently Hibiki wanted to ask her about them.

"Please tell me. What was that power?"

Upon her asking that question, several eyes fell onto Tsubasa, causing the blunette to reluctantly yet tersely pull something out from underneath the scruff of her uniform's collar, something which Hibiki soon saw to be a crimson coloured pendant which connected to some string that wrapped itself securely around Tsubasa's neck. Holding it out for her to see, Tsubasa allowed Genjuro to make the explanation, since she herself didn't want to… for understandable reasons, of course. "Ame no Hibakiri, the divine sword. That's the first Holy Relic which Tsubasa has come to own."

Hibiki, when he said this, blinked in confusion as she looked at the Pendant. Holy Relic? She may not be the most religious person in the world, but that pendant didn't exactly give her the holist kind of vibes, if she were honest. Instead, it just looked like that, a normal pedant if a little unusual, since she couldn't really think of too many which looked like that one. "Holy Relic? What's that?"

Instead of Genjuro this time, it was Ryouko who chose to answer her question, placing her ands on her hip as she eyed the pendant, an… unusual glimmer of something within her eyes that briefly appeared before dispersing. "Holy Artefacts which have been mentioned in folklore from across the world. They are too advanced for our current technology to recreate, and whilst many have been excavated from ancient ruins throughout the globe, the unfortunate reality is that they aren't what they once were thanks to the passage of time. That's why its quite rare for one to be found with its original power, let alone its original shape."

Genjuro then took over as Tsubasa put her pendant back under her uniform, crossing his muscular arms under his chest. "The Ame no Hibakiri's current state is also only a fraction of the original blade itself, yet it still retains a significant level of power." He explained, turning to Ryouko who then pulled out a remote from her Lab Coat. She then proceeded to click on a button, which caused the monitor to display a larger version of the Pendant Tsubasa wore, drawing Hibiki's attention.

"The key to awakening and releasing the power within this fragment lies within a set of vibrations at certain amplitudes: in essence, a Song. A song is required to activate the power within." She explained, Hibiki listening with rapt attention.

Whilst she did, a thought occurred to her as she remembered both the time of the concert as well as the moment when she had been about to be killed by the Noise alongside those two children. She'd felt a Song's presence inside both her heart and mind back then, like an animal preparing to pounce or something.

After she voiced this to them, several sounds of acknowledgement came from the crew, although Tsubasa's wasn't so positive. Something which worried a few of them due to the nature of the subject, whilst Ryouko didn't pay it much attention, instead she continued the explanation for them all. "Once activated, a Holy Relic then undergoes a conversion into pure energy, which is then reconstructed into an Anti-Noise protection Armour: the Symphogear, which is what you and Tsubasa wear." She explained, Hibiki humming in thought as she recalled the outfit and armour mix which she'd donned before. Not to mention the fact of her singing whilst trying to fight back against the Noise. It sort of answered some of her questions, but it also brought up new ones in the place of the old ones.

"That said, not every song or singer possesses the power to activate a Holy Relic!"

All of a sudden, the flow of the conversation halted when Tsubasa shouted out that point she'd made whilst making an effort to not look at the group, causing concerned looks to be sent her way by various people. Alongside that, a short but tense silence got brought about by her words, one which eventually got replaced when Genjuro stood from his seat and walked on over to the young Hibiki. "There are few who can awaken and wield a Symphogear properly in battle, that much is true. Tsubasa and you are two such examples."

"Do you understand the power that's been awakened within you? I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have."

Upon being asked that question by an excited Ryouko, Hibiki kept her head down for a brief moment as she looked like she was mauling it over in her mind. After a few seconds, she looked back up… "Um… I didn't understand a thing." …then spoke those words with the most embarrassed and nervous facial expression she'd made yet, similar to ones she'd make when not understanding the material being taught to her in class.

Several amused snorts ran throughout the room right afterwards.

"Just as I thought."

"As I expected."

Both Sakuta and Aoi commented with sighs, shaking their heads whilst Hibiki tried to look as small as possible. Tsubasa glared at the other Symphogear user as if she wanted her eyes to be lasers which would burn through her skull, almost as if to shout with all the fury she felt inside 'girl, we just explained it to you, what is it that makes it so hard to get?!' All the while, Genjuro and Ryouko shared a nervous look with one another, forced chuckles escaping them.

"Perhaps… it may be a bit much for a beginner like you…" the latter stated, looking rather exasperated for the first time since Hibiki had met her. She then bounced right back afterwards though, becoming her usual, childish and excitable self within seconds. "Just know that I'm Sakurai Ryouko, the primary proponent of the Sakurai Theory, the sole technology capable of producing a Symphogear from a Holy Relic."

…Okay… Hibiki voiced that out in an unsure way, as whilst most of that went over her head, she did at least grasp the fact that Ryouko essentially was the reason why Tsubasa had that anti-noise weapon at her disposal, though that didn't explain one other thing which she'd been curious about. "But then, what about me?" She questioned, drawing the older researcher's attention again, as well as the rest of the group. Looking down at herself, Hibiki continued with a meek, subdued voice. "I mean, I… I don't have a Holy Relic, but I used that Sympho-thing before… so, why…?" she mumbled.

Once she did so, the atmosphere changed, becoming increasingly tense and solemn. Wordlessly, Ryouko pointed her remote at the monitor and pressed another button, showing the Monitor switching to something else: a display of a ribcage, HER ribcage, to be more precise. When Hibiki saw it, her eyes widened as a slight 'eh?' escaped her lips, her eyes falling upon the spot close to her right breast… right where the scar on her body would have been if this were a full scale model of her upper torso where she could see… some small fragments of something, she didn't know what. However, she DID know what this whole thing was. "I assume you know what this is."

"It's my injury! I was there at the concert 2 years ago when it happened!"

Whilst Tsubasa perked up when she heard that declaration from the rookie Symphogear user, Ryouko thoughtfully spoke with her right hand's index finger and thumb cupping her chin. "Since all these fragments are so deeply embedded into your body around your heart, removing them via surgical means is all but impossible. According to our investigation, those fragments seem to be what remains of a Holy Relic we once possessed, Gungnir." She explained, frowning sadly at the end with a look of loss in her eyes. The Symphogear formerly worn by one of our own… Kanade. You could say they are her parting gift to you, although the parting isn't necessarily an established thing yet."

Tsubasa let out a silent gasp when she heard this, her eyes shrinking inwards similar to someone who had just experienced a heart attack moment, a sudden loss of strength befalling her. She gripped onto one of the walls for support, holding a hand over her face as her mind struggled to take in that information, all the while slowly walking towards the exit and leaving the examination room pronto, like she couldn't stay anywhere near that place anymore. All the while, she felt but ignored the stares planting themselves onto her back which came from the rest of the room's occupants.

SZZT!

As soon as the automatic sliding doors shut, Hibiki fumbled with her hands which rested on her lap, looking like she wanted to ask something, and when she got prompted to by Ryouko, the cream haired girl raised her head with a nervous look on her face. "Um… if that's all true… then what about the other guy?" she questioned, bringing out confused looks from the rest of them. This didn't last long though, as Genjuro, Ryouko and finally the rest of them figured out whom Hibiki spoke of right before she had said it herself. "They guy calling himself SHADOW… are you…?"

Hibiki paused her speech, not daring to ask what she had wanted to ask for fear of being rebuked. Internally, she remembered how SHADOW apparently didn't seem to be too trusting of Tsubasa and the others, something she had figured out herself. The thing was, she had gotten curious when SHADOW had introduced himself, his tone had darkened when he had mentioned reinforcements, as well as the name he had used to introduce himself to her with, though it didn't feel like he hated the name itself. No, it felt more like he had a dislike towards the ones whom gave him it, which honestly confused and concerned her. She wanted to know more about the guy, why he didn't seem too fond of Tsubasa and the others here, what made him the way he is, and most importantly why he felt so familiar to her.

Hence, why she had asked Genjuro and the rest of Division 2 for answers.

"We're the ones who call signed him that, yes." Genjuro replied after a short silence, nodding his head with a stern, serious look, his entire body radiating a similar posture as a slightly worn and weary look tried to form, though he suppressed it well. A low exhale escaped his lips as he pinched the bridge of his nose "The one which we call SHADOW… the one whom apparently helped you with the Noise. He is one of the many things we have next to nothing about. He first appeared a couple months after the concert 2 years ago, when Noise attacked a settlement in the southern parts of Japan." He glanced over to Ryouko, whom nodded with an equally serious face as she pointed her remote at the monitor, switching to a video.

She quickly pressed play, and Hibiki watched as a bunch of Noise started attacking an innocent village. As much as she didn't want to see something like this happen before her eyes, the fact that it had already happened not helping as much as it could have, she soon became witnessed to a streak of black flames which crashed into the centre of the Noise horde from above, disintegrating them on contact. The flames spread out like an army of trained warriors, consuming any and every Noise in sight, leaving none of them alive. Watching it unfold before her eyes made Hibiki feel as though she was actually there, witnessing the carnage and devastation those flames brought. They looked so much like they were flames born from the depths of the infernal abyss, carrying the essence of destruction itself as they incinerated everything which stood before them.

Then, the flames parted to allow them to see the user, clad in that coat of darkness with most of his features remaining cloaked by his attire. Hibiki tried to suppress it, but she shuddered a bit when she saw the crimson glowing eyes that the figure sported, eyes which were equipped with a regular shine that, combined with the darkness, made him look absolutely EVIL and menacing. "We have no clue what the majority of his motives or powers are, but we do know one thing and that is that he is just as hostile to the Noise as we are. No matter where he appears, he always disposes of them with extreme prejudice, to the point where we don't even have to do anything against the Noise, he'd do our work for us. We've made many attempts to contact him, capture him, bring him in etc, however he's evaded us at every turn. Not to mention even Tsubasa has gone up against him and lost. Many times. She's got quite the grudge against him because of this." Genjuro explained whilst the video shrunk, allowing more footage to be displayed of varying fights recorded by the second Division, fights which SHADOW took part in either against the Noise, or Tsubasa herself… fights which, to Hibiki looked more like he was just messing around with her instead of taking her seriously.

Somehow, Hibiki kind of got the feeling she could understand where her grudge came from.

"From what we've seen so far…" Ryouko then took over, pausing the video so the screen showed only SHADOW's upper half, his surroundings that of nothing but ruined buildings mixed with the flames which seemed to obey his will like a puppet and its master. "It seems that his abilities come as a form of fire, with the ability to seemingly shift it from a fiery nature to a metal, and vice versa, at will. You've… seen the results both on this video as well as personally, Mrs Tachibana. Furthermore, what you haven't seen is that he apparently has the ability to travel 'through' the flames he's created, as if they were portals connecting to one another. Its an ability he has used many times to escape our grasp, aside from his versatile use of those flames. He's not only been shown to use guns, but other weapons that he can create at will, making him quite the difficult opponent to bring down." Once finished with their explanation, Ryouko clicked a button and the videos vanished, allowing silence to dominate the room once again.

Now that she had this information, Hibiki took a moment to process it in her mind. So far, it did explain a few things to her, like the history between SHADOW and Tsubasa as well as the second Division, although only from their perspective. It didn't explain why SHADOW seemed to dislike the thought of talking to them though, even if when she herself had been brought in it had been cuffed up, it wasn't really all that bad once things got underway. So, Hibiki didn't think it was anything on the second Division's side, so what would make SHADOW not want to co-operate with them? Like, they both fought against the same enemy, so why couldn't they work together? Hibiki couldn't help but wonder about that, even if she wasn't someone who usually liked to think a lot, her worry just couldn't let this issue slide. Not when she'd seen SHADOW for herself, something which allowed her to see how he wasn't the kind of evil person whom existed in her secretly stored away action movie stash. He'd helped her out of his own free will, after all.

Eventually though, she settled on asking SHADOW herself, which meant that when she got the chance, she would have to pop the question then, if she and him were to ever meet again that is. It wasn't like she knew where the guy was or what he did in his daily life, plus the guy from what she'd seen was somewhat good at evading people and hiding away when he didn't want to be found, which would only make it harder to track him down. The thing was though, for some reason Hibiki got the strange feeling that they inevitably WOULD meet again, she didn't know why but she could just feel it in her gut… and Hibiki usually trusted her gut more than anything, if she were honest. 'It would be great if he could help us out after all, we share the same common enemy after all…' she thought to herself.

Looking back up, Hibiki then asked something else whilst getting up from the examination bed, something else which had been gnawing at her mind since the first time she'd been brought here by Tsubasa and the rest yesterday. "Um… can I really not tell anyone about my powers…?" she asked them nervously, shifting about on the spot she stood. The whole SHADOW thing aside, Hibiki did NOT like the thought of having to keep a secret, especially from her friend Miku. They'd promised to always share each other's secrets, there was pretty much next to nothing they DIDN'T know about one another, so if she had no other choice but to keep this one secret from her…

Judging by the look which Genjuro had on his face when he heard her question, it seemed that he too knew the feelings of which Hibiki felt inside, as if he had seen it many a times in the past. Even so, he still gave her the answer which he had for this kind of scenario. "If word leaked out that you had the power of the Symphogear, your family, your friends and everyone around you would be at risk. Their lives would possibly be in grave danger."

"Even… their lives?"

Genjuro gravely nodded, since as an adult he was well versed in the kinds of nature which humans possessed deep down, not to mention the ways of the Government and how they did things. He had enough experience to know just how they would take to someone whom had the ability to use a Symphogear, they'd likely kidnap her or use her as leverage to get something that they would want from the second Division. It was even possible to use them as weapons of mass destruction to cause chaos to their rivals in other countries, turning them into soulless killing machines, not even caring that, in the end, they were still just young teenage girls whom lived normal lives before gaining these powers. He knew this because early in their formation when Tsubasa had just acquired the Ame No Hibakiri, it had actually almost happened. Kidnappers from the Government had tried to capture Tsubasa with the Relic with the hopes of turning her into their loyal lapdog. Fortunately, this had been prevented by Genjuro himself, and the kidnappers had managed to escape before they could be interrogated on whom had sent them, with next to none in the government coming forward to take responsibility.

Therefore, someone like Hibiki whom hardly knew anything would be like a blank slate to them, something they could mould into whatever they deem necessary… so if they knew Hibiki's identity as a Symphogear wielder, then they could force her under their service with threats against her family and friends. People in power tended to think that they were above the law which dictated society, as much as Genjuro didn't like. "The secrets themselves aren't what we are trying to protect. It's the lives of their wielders. For their sake, can you keep these powers a secret from them?" He questioned, no, requested from her. As she remained silent, Genjuro tried to push a bit further. "Please understand the enormity of the powers you possess. Humans can't defeat the Noise, should they even touch one they will turn into solid carbon and turn to dust. Moreover, aside from SHADOW's case its impossible to inflict damage upon them, and again apart from SHADOW the only other alternative is the battle songstress clad in a Symphogear. As the head of the special disaster countermeasure unit, second division, I'd like to formerly request your assistance. Hibiki Tachibana, will you lend us your powers in our fight against the Noise?"

Finally finished with his speech, Genjuro became silent as he waited for Hibiki's decision alongside Ryouko. The girl remained silent, contemplating for a short moment about what to do next. In her mind, she realized that she, despite not being the sharpest tool in the shed, had already been drawn into this conflict whether she liked it or not. The moment that she had first activated Gungnir she had donned her 'armour' for the battlefield out there, plus like Ryouko had said the fragments of that Holy Relic weren't able to be removed surgically from her body, meaning that she was essentially stuck with it for life. Therefore, whether she agreed to help them fight the Noise or not, she would ALWAYS have to keep Gungnir a secret from the world as well as Miku. Both roads lead down to hardships, of that Hibiki could see clearly, but on one of them she could at LEAST do the thing which she had wanted to do for the last 2 years: help and protect the safety of others, just like how Kanade had done before her. It would have been a disgrace to her name for her not to try and help out. Therefore, her decision got made as she looked back up to them, a determined shine illuminating her amber eyes. "You said that my powers can help people, right?" she asked, getting grateful smiles from the two adults in return, for they knew EXACTLY what she had chosen. "Okay! I'll do it!"

* * *

Outside in one of the underground corridors of the second Division's headquarters, Tsubasa stood with her head down, gazing towards the marble ground with a stern expression, having finally managed to regain enough of her wit to think about what she had learned. Knowing that Kanade's Symphogear still remained inside of that girl, Hibiki, it was definitely a difficult pill to swallow, especially for her. Tsubasa may not know how she felt about the current situation it had found itself in, but one thing was for certain, and that would be that as a blade, she wouldn't want the fists or the spear to be used carelessly on the battlefield. To do so would be foolhardy, not to mention it would get the user killed, and in that case, she'd lose the Gungnir forever… with Kanade's situation being what it is, Tsubasa couldn't afford that, it was her LAST remaining link to the better past. She COULDN'T allow it to be damaged any further.

'Kanade…'

Just then, some footsteps were heard behind her, so the blunette turned towards the source to find Hibiki standing before her with a wide smile on her face. Seeing that smile, it irritated the blunette immensely, like a smouldering flame being reignited by a newfound spark. However, she kept that behind her façade for now, just so she could hear what her junior at both wielding a Symphogear and at school had to say. "I'm going to fight!" Hibiki declared, her smile one of determination. "I may be new to this, but I'll do my best! I wish to fight with you!"

'Fight… with me? You, a greenhorn who doesn't even know the first THING about how cruel such a world can be? Get real! A brat like you has no such place on the frontlines with that attitude!'

Unaware of the blunette's internal monologuing which could be described as similar to that of a murderer regarding his latest victim, Hibiki made to reach out a hand for a handshake, as if to solidify the partnership between the two, but then alarms blared out throughout the corridor, causing both girls to go wide-eyed.

* * *

"Noise detected!"

In the command room, Genjuro and the workers were all at their posts with the alarms blaring throughout. Monitors showcased Noise signals, pretty much confirming Sakuta's urgent callout from before, just as the girls came running inside from the blast door behind Genjuro. Speaking of said muscular man, the man held a hand in front of him as he quickly gave out his order. "Inform first Division that we'll handle this!"

"We've isolated their spawn point! We have their co-ordinates!" Aoi called out a second later whilst Sakuta obeyed the order given to him. Her eyes then widened when she discovered just WHERE these things originated from. Her following words came out with a stutter, carrying the dread and shock she felt inside. "They're 200 meters away from Lydian Academy!"

Genjuro grimaced when he heard this, muttering to himself under his breath about how close they were. Barely, he registered a callout from Tsubasa, saying how she would be going out to fight the Noise herself. That part was alright, since he had expected this from the 'sword' of the Kazanari family, however his eyes widened in surprise when he heard Hibiki breaking off to catch up to her. "Hey, you're not-!"

"My powers can help protect others, right? So far, aside from SHADOW, only the Symphogears can fight against the Noise, right? That's why I HAVE to go!" Hibiki responded, silencing the commander before she turned and continued her original goal of catching up to Tsubasa, the blast doors opening for her and closing once she passed through.

When they did, a moment of silence overcame the command room, if one didn't count the blaring alarms that is. A few moments later, Sakuta was the one to break it, whistling with an impressed tone as he looked towards the blast doors. "She's so willing to risk her life for others. She's quite the good girl." He remarked, impressed and praising Hibiki for her ability to take action despite being a rookie at the job.

"Is that really the case?"

However, Genjuro had a completely DIFFERENT opinion on the matter, as shown by the low edge tone which he used to deliver both that question and the following line. "She's not like Tsubasa, whose been trained in combat since an early age. Up until recently, she was an ordinary girl caught up in everyday life. To join a fight which could potentially cost her life just so she could help others… to me, that just seems twisted." There were many times which Genjuro cursed the helplessness which he felt whenever he had to force the youth of the current generation into dealing with these kinds of problems, and right now felt like one of those times.

Meanwhile, Ryouko hummed as she eyed the blast doors, a… nostalgic tone behind her following words. "So, in the end she's just like us… she belongs in our world."

* * *

"THIS IS AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT'S SPECIAL DISASTER COUNTERMEASURE UNIT. AS OF THIS MOMENT, A SPECIAL EVACUATION ORDER HAS BEEN ISSUED. PLEASE EVACUATE TO A REFUGE OR A SHELTER AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE."

Things didn't look too good on the frontlines of this battlefield by the time help arrived. Countless piles of carbonized bodies lay around, unrecognizable but one could clearly tell that they had once been humans who'd been fleeing from the Noise attack. The Noise must have appeared within a densely populated area and managed to get a head start on the whole killing and carbonizing business, something which did happen as regrettable as it may be. Not to mention that even though the second Division could handle the Noise with the Symphogears, sadly they couldn't be everywhere instantly. Worse still, whilst this attack may look like it could be considered terrible and it did, in actuality its casualty count would be on the smaller scale of things, in the past Noise attacks have had much greater impacts, claiming way more lives than this.

Right now, however, Tsubasa stood before a group of Noise on a long highway, the remnant of a larger force which had been the culprits responsible for this incident. She hadn't deployed her Symphogear Ame No Hibakiri yet, though, as the Noise before her had begun acting... strange. As in they didn't start attacking her, but instead just stood there, seemingly waiting although she knew that to be the opposite of what was happening. Case in point, when they each let their bodies melt to the ground beneath them, before they all converged together, mixing and melding their bodies till only a green coloured liquid remained. A liquid which soon rose upwards like it was being drawn that way by an unseen magnetic force, soon forming a body similar to those slug-like Noise only its size rivalled that of a single story building. Its green body had several leaf-like protrusions coming out of it, whilst several long, thin and spindly limbs grew out of it, numbering at around four.

Opening its mouth to showcase the human teeth as well as the translucent interior, the large green Noise let out a bellowing roar.

Tsubasa's response? Simple:

_"Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron…"_

**(OST ****Zettō Ame no Habakiri Plays)**

Upon chanting the Holy Chant to activate her Symphogear, Tsubasa donned her Armour and drew her Katana, already proceeding to sing as she got into her battle stance. She then bent her legs, breaking off into a mad dash towards her opponent. Said opponent remained idle, but the leaves on its back did not, as they instead trembled like they were about to explode, before the monster lurched forwards as it launched each of them towards the nearing Tsubasa, each leaf rotating rapidly like spinning saw blades with the intent to cut her up into little tiny pieces from the skies above. Tsubasa however, wouldn't let that happen, the proof being when she deployed her Ankle blades and jumped towards them, twisting and spinning like she were dancing whilst in reality, she chopped up each of the blades launched, letting them disintegrate behind her whilst she focused on the main threat.

Well, she landed behind it first, and made to switch her Katana into Greatsword form for an AZURE FLASH whilst the beast turned around to roar at her, intending to leap towards her and try to carbonize her like all other humans before it...

"Take that!"

Unfortunately for it, and much to the blunette Symphogear's shock/anger, the loud and boisterous voice of Hibiki Tachibana resonated through the air. The source came from the space above, where she fell down having launched a flying kick with her Gungnir equipped, her form similar to a certain ninja with a black bowl haircut as she slammed into the Noise from its side, her armoured foot impacting it like it had impacted a sponge, the Noise's skin sinking under its weight. As a result, the Noise groaned in pain as she knocked it onto its side, Hibiki bouncing off it towards the ground whilst calling out to her fellow Symphogear user. "Tsubasa!"

Said user saw this and gritted her teeth, fury exploding within her chest as she jumped up and above the Noise, partly so she could finish it off with her following attack, and also partially because she couldn't stand the stupid naive look on Hibiki's face any longer. If she did look at it more than necessary, she felt like she'd go over the edge, and that wasn't something which would benefit this battle.

Although, saying that...

One quick AZURE FLASH later, and Tsubasa had sliced the Noise in half, letting both pieces get disintegrated within an explosion of smoke. Landing before her fellow Symphogear wielder, Tsubasa made it a point not to look at her and stood tall, her Katana returning to its original form whilst she eyed the smoke, memories of the concert and Kanade's actions returning to the forefront of her mind. 'Kanade… this... I...'

**(OST switches to instrumental version)**

Unaware of the blunette's ponderings, Hibiki jogged up to her back, stopping when they were at an arm's length away from one another. The happy, dopey look on her face carried nothing but excitement and joy, almost in a downright disgusting amount as she began to try again to get through to the senior of the two. "Tsubasa!" she called out, not noticing the oddities around her comrade. "I know I'm still holding you back, but I'll do my best!" she proclaimed. "So please! Fight with me!"

...

...

...

"...Okay."

Finally, after a short moment of silence as Tsubasa stayed motionless without giving any hint to Hibiki that she'd heard her plea, responded with a simple okay. Now, normally this would have been a sign that Tsubasa had finally been convinced by Hibiki that she could indeed be of help to her, and for a moment that had been the thought process the new user of Gungnir had felt, which prompted a surge of joy inside of her since this meant she and Tsubasa would be able to help as many people as they could in their future battles as comrades. That was essentially all Hibiki had wanted from this whole exchange in the first place, to help as many people as possible, and if any otaku heard her toughts right now they'd likely make comparisons between herself as well as a certain red haired sword using 'hero of justice'. Saving people by throwing themselves into conflicts greater than themselves, without regard for their own lives... Yeah, the similarities were quite obvious.

However...

"How about... we fight each other?"

Tsubasa then turned around and spoke those words to her, her eyes gaining a dull shine made from the killing intent she started to radiate from her body as well. She had a wicked looking smirk on her face as well, something which quickly wiped the smile off Hibiki's face and switched it out for a look of nervous tension, one with a side of confusion as well. A matching sound escaped Hibiki's lips, one which came out again but in greater volume when, instead of saying more, Tsubasa maintained that dark smile whilst pointing her Katana towards Hibiki's neck. One swift thrust motion would be all that it'd take for her to give the cream haired girl a hole in her neck, killing her swiftly through suffocation.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Command Room...

Chaos reigned supreme now as every one of the members stared at the monitor, showing nothing dumbstruck expressions on their faces, their skin tones having been drained of all colour the exact MOMENT that Tsubasa pointed her sword towards something OTHER than a Noise. How did this happen? Why? What was the cause? One moment both of them seemed to have taken down a Noise together, which had been all fine and dandy, as well as the intention for them in the first place. Hibiki DID say she wanted to try and fight alongside Tsubasa to help people, right? So why was she pointing her sword at her? No, the bigger question was what was going on with Tsubasa? This wasn't her usual self, and they knew it, as a sword she would NEVER point her weapon against someone whose not a threat to humanity, even if she had been an emotional wreck after that concert. Panic and confusion raced through their minds, rendering them immobile except for staring at the monitor displaying this sight.

Though, out of all of them, two people managed to get their heads on straight again, and properly react to this new and unexpected development.

"What are they doing?!" a shocked and MASSIVELY concerned Genjuro exclaimed loudly, leaning forwards and having a wide-eyed look on his face. This wasn't something which was supposed to happen, bad enough that he as an adult was sending young teenage girls into these battles which could cost them their lives, when it should really be adults like him who should be doing that job, but now they were fighting each other for whatever reason?! Worse still, was that if he thought about it, Genjuro could have seen the signs that something like this would have eventually occurred, with the mental turmoil Tsubasa had experienced the moment she learned about Gungnir's return, the way Hibiki acted around her, then combine this with THAT situation, and it would have pushed her over the edge.

Meanwhile, Ryouko looked the complete opposite of everyone here, staring at the sight of Tsubasapointing her sword at Hibiki with a nonchalant or rather wistful expression, like someone whom was looking back to her younger days and seeing it through the two girls before her. "Ah, the fires of youth..." she remarked to herself. As bad as this situation may be, she wasn't actually worried about it, for several reasons. One of them was that she had anticipated something like this happening, having been observant enough to notice the signs taking place within the wielder of Ame No Habakiri, so this happening now... well, it certainly happened earlier than she had anticipated but other than that there wasn't much else she hadn't suspected already. Second, for as much as this scenario could cause a lot of damage to the surrounding areas, she believed that Gungnir wouldn't let its wielder die like this, not to mention that to her this also just looked like someone going through her rebellious phase and taking it all out on someone else, a common thing for teenagers these days.

Then, there was the last reason, something she decided to make known to the rest of them when she noticed the Commander make for one of the emergency transport lifts up to the surface above. "Commander, I don't think you yourself need to head out right now." she told him, much to everyone's surprise. They'd just gotten over their previous states born from this incident they'd just witnessed and now Ryouko threw this curveball at them?

"What are you talking about, Ryouko?!" Genjuro began. "Someone has to make those two come to reason-"

Ryouko then interrupted him, pointing towards the monitor. "Yes, but that person isn't going to be one of us per say." she explained, a knowing look on her face as she elaborated. "Lets just say I've been looking through the footage, and a theory has went POP! into my noggin." after saying this Ryouko lightly bopped herself on the head, closing one eye and sticking her tongue out in an attempt to make herself look cute. It wasn't working as far as the others were concerned though, so she just continued speaking. "In a few moments, we should have our little problem solver arrive just like the dark knight in the movies..." She vaguely commented, eyeing the monitor, as if waiting for something to happen... or rather, for someone to show up.

Genjruo looked at her for a long moment, trying to get a read on the woman, before he gave in with a sigh. As worried as he felt about the situation and his manly desire to make sure things didn't get out of hand, Ryouko wasn't someone who did things without reason... most of the time. She usually had methods to her madness, the Sakurai Theory being one such example of this, so for the time being he'll put his trust in his colleague, see what happens next. So, with that, Genjuro looked to the monitor after returning to his usual post in the command room.

In a moment or two, he soon saw something, something which made his eyes widen again as shock rushed through his system, something which Ryouko smiled knowinly at. "Th-That's..."

* * *

"E-Eeeeeh?! Wha-wha…?!"

Poor Hibiki, she had absolutely NO idea how things switched from happy and triumphant to scary and downright insidious in such a shot timeframe. The user of Gungnir paled considerably as the tip of Ame No Habakiri's Katana gleamed in a deadly manner in the moonlight, its owner glaring with malice and bloodlust boiling behind those blue irises of hers. Not only that, but she had a bead of sweat falling down beside her head, her heart thundering away within her chest as she tried and failed epically to keep her breathing under control. She remembered this sword, she remembered seeing how it tore through Noise like Paper Mache back at the Concert. It tore through them all without mercy or distinction... so what would it be able to do to her? She didn't think there would be anything different in that department, and THAT made her feel like any slight movement would result in her being decapitated. Something which Tsubasa wouldn't mind as much right now due to Hibiki defiling the Gungnir her former partner wielded back in the day.

"W-Wait, hold on, Tsubasa!" Quickly trying to go for the negotiation path so things didn't get even further out of hand than they already were, Hibiki tried to calm her down with talking. "Y-You misunderstood, I want to fight alongside...!"

"I know that,"

However, her words got sharply and abruptly cut apart by Tsubasa's cold, steeling tone of voice, her grip on her Katana tightening immensely to the point where, if her hands were bare, then her veins would have become visible. Hearing those words made the foolish girl in her eyes ask her what the heck she was doing again, in which case Tsubasa simply declared the following with her tone gradually getting icier and icier each word. "I just want to fight you. I cannot accept you. Join forces with you? Fight alongside you? Hell will freeze over before Kazanari Tsubasa can accept that." She declared, and by this point it was clear that she wouldn't be backing down from this, nor would she let Hibiki off the hook, this fight was going to happen whether the Gungnir user liked it or not. A fact which finally cemented itself in the young girl's mind thanks to her words after slowly but surely creeping out from the darkness within the shadows of her mind. Tsubasa then took a step backwards, twisting her Katana so it now pointed at her upcoming opponent in a sideways thrusting position. "Prepare your Armed Gear."

"Eh?"

Ignoring Hibiki's response which got accompanied by trembling eyes, gritted teeth in nervousness and fear, Tsubasa calmly continued. It was almost like she didn't even register it as something which had happened, instead all she focused on was the issue in front of her, something which constantly nagged, harassed and smashed against her willpower to tolerate. Well no more, not when Hibiki showed herself as a naïve fool who didn't understand a damn THING about the battlefield, alongside the fact that she wielded her former partner's Gungnir like it was nothing but a plaything, a tool for her to be some kind of cliché hero! No, Tsubasa could NEVER accept someone like her as a partner, nor even as a person, like she'd said before it'd be a cold day in hell before someone like her were to accept an idiot like this brat as a partner on the battlefield. "Your Armed Gear represents your will to fight on the battlefield. Should someone like you, who wishes to be a cliché hero like in all those dumb superhero movies, to claim Gungnir the Spear which pierces through anything as your Symphogear, then you'll have to come to terms with everything that will entail!"

"Wh-What do you mean by "come to terms"?" Hibiki asked her, blinking several times whilst grimacing at the harsh criticism towards her dream. She felt really small right now, like a small bug waiting to be squashed, and it wasn't a nice feeling, especially amidst the confusion between this and why Tsubasa was even acting this way towards her in the first place. Did Hibiki offend her in any way in the past? She wasn't sure, though she definitely felt like talking would no longer get through to Tsubasa anymore. Even so, she still tried. "I don't even know what "Armed Gear" your talking about. How should I come to terms with something I don't even know anything about?"

"..."

Tsubasa remained silent upon hearing Hibiki's words, her hair shadowing her eyes as she lowered her Katana to her side. At first one might think that she had decided to stop this and see reason, however Hibiki didn't think like that. No, as much of a straightforward girl she was, Hibiki didn't think this was over, not by a long shot, and that worried her the most. Slowly turning away from her, Tsubasa then proceeded to stride away from her, when she then spoke... and Hibiki could not help the chills which crawled up her back at the sheer LOATHING in Tsubasa's voice when she did so. "You have no determination. You treat this like some funny little game." she stated, finally stopping when they'd gotten about 8 feet worth of distance from one another, and then Tsubasa glanced back at the Gungnir wielder with all the ferocity she felt inside making Hibiki lose all skin colour. "How DARE you think you can wield Kanade's Symphogear!"

**(OST ****Zettō Ame no Habakiri Plays)**

The moment that Tsubasa began to sing, Hibiki gasped as she stepped backwards, all the while the Ame No Habakiri user leapt into the air above them. Her apex reached about 60 feet, before she twisted around to face downwards in a diagonal angle towards her, rearing her sword arm back and flinging her Katana down towards her. The Katana shifted the moment it was let loose from her hand, enlarging and reshaping itself into a massive Longsword with a series of jet thrusters equipped, whilst Tsubasa herself flung herself towards its rear in a karate flying kick assisted by some thrusters coming from her Ankleblades. By the time she slammed into the back of the massive Longsword, both it AND Tsubasa shot down towards Hibiki like a massive Meteor intending to impact the earth. Sheer terror gripped the young Hibiki when she saw this, causing her to cover her arms in fright instead of trying to dodge the large-scale attack...

Or rather, it SHOULD have been a large scale attack.

**(OST volume lowers whilst becoming instrumental)**

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The sound of something burning entered their ears before the source actually appeared, but it made no difference a second later. From the skies above, at an opposite angle to which Tsubasa had launched her strike from, came a single, long streak of ferocious-looking Black Flames, causing Hibiki to gasp when she noticed them just a millisecond before it slammed into the older blunette's attack like a heavenly smiting from god himself. The resulting impact (which had been followed by a shockwave which had blown Hibiki a fair 20 meters back, the young girl falling and landing on her backside) knocked both the blade AND Tsubasa (who gasped in surprise at the sudden and unexpected movement) off course and into the ground before them instead. When the blade impacted the ground below, Tsubasa fall by its side face first, a pained gasp escaping her lips before quickly shooting right back up to her feet. "Who dares?!"

**"Oh, who do you think, you bitch?"**

A dark, cold, masculine and VERY familiar voice resounded through the air, the source of it coming from a large pile of Black Flames where the streak had crashed post collision. The voice spoke with almost poisonous hate dripping from his words like the paralysing venom from a serpent, the paralysing adjective being used since it caused BOTH girls to freeze up. Throughout the times that they'd heard that voice, there was usually this cold, aloof and detached feeling which always accompanied it, as if everything didn't matter to it. There of course, had been times where bloodlust had come out of the speaker, but usually that stayed on the battlefield and was directed towards his enemies, but now? Hearing the amount of raw malice, bloodlust and killing intent behind that voice, it DEFINITELY sent waves of dread through their systems.

Both girls gulped (although the anger inside Tsubasa didn't die down in the slightest), knowing only ONE person capable of speaking this way.

From that fiery pile, emerged the speaker, SHADOW himself, hands still placed inside his coat pockets whilst the coat tails fluttered about behind him, two ferociously glowing crimson slitted eyes bearing down on Tsubasa with EXPLOSIVE anger and desire to rip, tear and shred without mercy or regard for the situation. The coat's hood swayed slightly in the generated winds as he slowly strode towards the two girls, more towards the blunette than Hibiki though, in fact it seemed as though when he finally stopped the person had managed to position himself right in-between the two, almost as if he were protecting Hibiki from her adversary. For a moment, all there was, became silence as the male stared Tsubasa down, her Longsword becoming her Katana once more which she grabbed and pulled out the ground as if it were the legendary sword a certain King of Knights used to carve her myth into the annuls of history... despite the gender change.

"SH-SHADOW..."

Glancing behind him towards Hibiki who'd called out his name, the Gungnir user visibly jumped and flinched in unison at the intensity burning within his slitted crimson eyes, before she felt surprise wash over her when the fiery gaze softened slightly as he eyed her. He eyed her up and down, almost as if he were making sure she was okay, although considering how... revealing her outfit had become thanks to Gungnir, Hibiki flushed in embarrassment and tried to cover her chest. It wouldn't have happened if it were another girl, but since it was a GUY, and it only occurred to her NOW of all times, Hibiki didn't comprehend the full effects of this fact until just at this moment. Thanks to her looking away from him though, Hibiki didn't notice the relieved look which formed in SHADOWs' eyes when he realized that the attack hadn't done anything to her.

**"You are unharmed?"**

"H-Huh? O-Oh, um, thanks, I'm fine..."

**"Good. Now then..."**

SMACK!

"Geh…!"

All of a sudden, SHAOW appeared behind Hibiki, the cream haired Symphogear user panicking and proceeding to look around to see where he had gone. However, her efforts became futile when he appeared behind her and karate chopped the back of her neck, causing her to fall unconscious although he caught her by hooking his arm under her stomach before she could hit the ground. With that done, SHADOW fired a blast of Black Flames from his free hand towards Tsubasa, whom had to use her AZURE FLASH to parry them instead of charging at the man like she had initially intended, all the while practically clearing several dozen meters of distance in a single movement and gently laying the unconscious Hibiki onto the ground. 'There, she will not be caught in the crossfire... but to make extra sure...' he thought, before clicking his fingers and a circular Firewall appeared around her. The Black Flames roared into existence as if they were a mighty lion, rising up to a single decker bus's height so Hibiki would be protected within them. Of course, she would still be able to breathe as despite their appearance, SHADOW found that he could make the flames NOT burn any oxygen yet still make it look like so. Quite a neat trick if he said so himself, if a little BS.

Then again, this whole thing was BS...

Especially with that stunt which Tsubasa had tried to pull.

Thinking about her ignited SHADOW's previous anger, causing him to grit his teeth and pocket his hands in his Coat once again. At this point, the blunette had her Katana at the ready, looking just as murderously towards him which he returned in kind. It didn't take him long before he stopped walking, resulting in them having 10 feet between them... feet which would inevitably be cleared one way or the other.

**"... I am EXTRODINARLY pissed, fallen Samurai, you truly have earned that name I gave you when we first met. But I will only ask once: WHAT were you THINKING, trying to harm your OWN comrade? Are you REALLY so blind, not to mention STUPID as to not recognize your OWN brethren?"**

"SHUT UP!" Tsubasa yelled back, her face one filled with nothing but malice as she pointed her katana towards SHADOW, her blue eyes bearing their gaze into his own without flinching. "That brat does not DERSERVE to be called my comrade, that Symphogear is WASTED on someone as foolhardy as her!" She then took a step forwards, her killing intent which had been momentarily suppressed being unleashed once again. Her Katana gleamed menacingly as she prepared to fight once more, glaring towards her opponent, it would either be Hibiki or SHADOW she didn't care which at the moment, although part of her DID admit to it being much more satisfying if SHADOW were to be defeated by her sword at last. "Now, get out of my way, before I-"

SCHWING!

Before she could finish, Tsubasa pivoted herself out of reflex and instinct, just barely managing to dodge a bullet made from Black Flames a second before it could have blown a hole into her sword arm's shoulder. The blunette idly glanced down at her said shoulder where she had felt the slight stinging sensation, before looking back to SHADOW whom had formed his Donner to launch that sneak attack, his slitted eyes that of a predator about to erupt into a blood rage. Donner's Nozzle lightly steamed from the fired bullet, furthering her confirmation that it had been the cause, too.

**"Fat chance."**

"... Then, FALL!"

**(****Zettō Ame no Habakiri Plays normally again)**

With that said, Tsubasa switched her Katana into its Greatsword form, launching a horizontal AZURE FLASH at the same time as she broke into a sprint to clear the distance between them. The blunette saw how he responded to her offensive, flinging his free hand to the side and arranging it into a chopping position, coating it with black flames later to make it resemble a long blade. He then sliced upwards, cutting the AZURE FLASH in half before he fired several rounds from his Donner, rounds which she switched her Greatsword into Katana form to slash apart whilst not letting any of her motion falter. In the end, Tsubasa managed to get within slashing distance, but instead of going for a beheading slash with her main weapon, Tsubasa bent down and got into a handstand, deploying her Ankleblades and spinning into a series of helicopter slashes, a perfect INVERSE DEMON technique.

To respond to her technique within the seconds he had till she collided with him, SHADOW dismissed Donner and created his Shield, blocking the strikes from hitting him whilst raising his free hand upwards behind him, as if to beckon someone behind him to come on over to his position. This hand motion got followed up with an eruption of Black Flames which occurred behind SHADOW, flames which then formed into many long streaks which had the thickness of an average bodybuilder's arms, before they flew in an overhead arc above him and shot down towards Tsubasa's still spinning form. He soon felt her stop attacking his Shield though, prompting him to dismiss it to see her having jumped back to avoid the flames, ending up in the air above him instead. Narrowing his eyes at her, SHADOW commanded the flames to surround him in a circle, readying himself for whatever happened next. 'Now, is she going to launch that big sword strike at me, or...?'

**"You first, I insist."**

Turned out that SHADOW's thought process wasn't wrong, but it wasn't right either. After all, instead of just launching that big Longsword form from earlier when she'd tried to take out Hibiki, she instead activated thrusters built into the Ankleblades, propelling herself forth at high speeds towards him with her Katana reared back over her shoulder for an overhead diagonal slash. 'Huh, so she can use those without that large weapon, huh? I had thought her weapons changed depending on what attack she used, but I guess she must have learned how to activate these functions on her own will...' the black wearing man thought in an analytical manner. With some millisecond long calculations, SHADOW determined he'd be able to intercept her with his Flames, so he flicked his un-pocketed hand (the other one still in his Trench Coat's pocket), to launch several fiery streaks towards his opponent from multiple different angles, intent on having them capture her then smash her into the ground below, grinding her face into the dirt where a brittle and dull blade like her's belonged.

However, he slightly widened his eyes at what happened next, whereas just when the streaks were about to collide with them, Tsubasa instead deflected some with a cross slash and used another as a means to slide downwards, the thrusters on hr Ankleblades roaring with blue energy as she slid down the streak. Mentally directing them to strike her down proved to be a bad move, since Tsubasa sliced them aside instead of outright dealing with them, her main priority seemingly being to get close to him for a strong strike to his body. That was what the male thought at least, so he made some more Streaks from the fiery circle and had them stay by his side, almost as if they were worms guarding their master like elite guards protecting their beloved king from rebellious adversaries. Just as Tsubasa came in close and he launched them with a flick of his hand, SHADOW hummed thoughtfully when she, instead of attacked outright like he'd suspected, instead slammed into the ground before him whilst bending backwards, letting her grip on her Katana weaken so she could dodge the final two Streaks before she gripped her weapon in two hands again, making to strike twice (the first one being to slice through the streaks and sever them like taking the head of a beast) and the second strike got aimed towards SHADOW's form... all whilst rising back into an upright position.

Tsubasa slowly smirked at the position she'd found herself in, thinking that she would be able to get a good hit in AT LAST, after many days filled with blood, sweat and tears mixed together in a little thing called intense training. She'd not been a fool, she'd learned much about SHADPW's movements and constantly replayed them inside her mind, predicting what he would do and how he would respond with his powers, coming up with all kinds of solutions to those problems whilst making sure to account for any new ones which might arise. She'd done this for the last 2 years, enduring much humiliation and stains against her pride as a warrior, a warrior who stood on the battlefield for the sake of the masses living in peace, fighting so that piece was preserved. So far, this would count as the closest she had ever gotten to actually cutting this bastard who'd constantly shunned and shamed her at every turn, so she could wipe the stains on her honour sparkling clean. A sword didn't exist for anything other than slashing against the enemy, and that was what she was about to do to wipe this asshole's smug ass look off that mug of his. Yeah, of that she felt certain as her Katana's edge neared the male's neck...

PING!

Only for him to catch the blade between the tips of his index finger and thumb.

**(OST Ends right as the PING sound happens)**

"?!"

Shock, shock filled her system, her entire body freezing up as if it had been encased within a block of ice whilst Tsubasa stared, absolutely dumbstruck, at what SHADOW had just done. Sweat formed on her forehead and cold dread seeped into her being, her heart and lungs tightening into an uncomfortable manner at this situation, no longer being able to empower her singing any further. Part of her, the inner warrior within her, screamed at Tsubasa to pull her blade free and continue the battle like the sword was meant to, however as she tried to do so Tsubasa felt an iron clad grip on her Katana, making moving it even the tiniest fraction practically impossible for her no matter how much strength she managed to amass. "Wh...at...?"

**"Nope."**

**(Bleach OST - On the Precipice of Defeat Plays)**

Seeing her like this filled SHADOW with contempt, his eyes shimmering like living flames as he rolled them derisively at her. Not done yet, he slowly raised his un-pocketed hand which had caught Tsubasa's Katana, then held it above his head whilst lifting its owner off the ground also. Her eyes widened at this as did a gasp escape her lips, already imagining what would come next, and just as she tried to engage her Ankleblades' Thrusters to try and get away from him, SHADOW blasted at them with Streaks from the fiery encirclement, disabling them thanks to the blunt force trauma they endured and condemning their user to the following events she'd tried to prevent just now...

BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-BASH-!

Using her sword as a means to lift her up into the air with one hand, SHADOW proceeded to royally screw Tsubasa over, all done by smashing her into the ground, raising her above his head and repeating the process. He did this whilst making sure the blunette didn't let go of her Katana, something he noted she seemed to be doing a decent job of doing despite the vicious beatdown he kept giving her. He would have been willing to admit that she had tenacity down pat, though this wouldn't save her from what he had in store. Eventually, he felt the girl#s grip start to weaken, not to mention that SHADOW noticed just how dazed that Tsubasa had become, so he decided to finish things with one final action.

To start, he flicked his hand forwards and tossed Tsubasa about 20 feet away from him, the blunette falling onto the ground of the highway back first. When she collided with the ground, a shrill gasp escaped her lips, but otherwise she found herself stunned with the level of pain she had fallen under, all while SHADOW himself stayed rooted in place, the Flames surrounding him disappearing since their wielder no longer needed their assistance. There, SHADOW stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he leered over at the fallen warrior, his flaming crimson eyes ablaze, though it seemed that the fighting had indeed allowed him to vent his rage onto her, so he looked marginally calmer than before...

Though, this only got replaced by two things: pity and disappointment.

**"It seems that your blade is all set to be absolutely broken beyond repair... such a waste. Pathetic. Very well then, allow me to show you..."**

His words cut through Tsubasa deeply, like several blades slicing through each of her vital organs, till even in her weakened state Tsubasa weakly tried to get up onto her feet, her fury being the sole driving force behind her at this point. Her rage also got mixed in with the frustration and sadness building within her, things which her rage had been suppressing this whole time, though now the battle had drained her mentally, making it so that her real emotions began to surface as much as she didn't want them to. By the time she managed to get back onto her feet, Tsubasa looked towards where SHADOW stood...

Only THEN did she witness it.

Black Flames erupted out of his sole un-pocketed hand as he threw the limb down to his side. The Flames enlarged, elongated and streamlined themselves, acting more like a living organism than an actual flame, something which always DID boggle Tsubasa's mind since she first saw it, until they had solidified into a metallic form just like how they did whenever SHADOW formed his guns... but this time, this wasn't a gun, nor was it a shield or anything she had seen him form before. The object took solid form from the metallic construction of the Black Flames, and when it completed itself the weapon SHADOW turned out to he holding... a black sword. a Daito to be more accurate, with a completely black form, a black blade with a black crossguard that had four prongs bent out to form the shape of the manji, with a short chain with a broken link at the end dangling from the base of the hilt. Surrounded by a dark, sinister aura, Tsubasa trembled when she saw it, her eyes shrinking to the size of dots.

A sword...

This guy can use a sword...

As a swordswoman, Tsubasa had grown up under a certain environment. One which is a predominantly male oriented one, the way of the sword, and due to this whenever she faced an enemy who uses a blade, she often had the chance to look at their styles of combat just from looking at the minute body language, their Maai which to the unknowing people was the space between two opponents in combat; formally, the "engagement distance". It' commonly classified as a complex concept, incorporating not just the distance between opponents, but also the time it would take to cross the distance, angle and rhythm of attack. Its specifically the exact position from which one opponent can strike the other, after factoring in the above elements. For example, a faster opponent's Maai is farther away than a slower opponent. In Tsubasa's case, her Symphogear allowed her to have a greater Maai than any normal human, due to the physical improvements it brings where she only has to sing for it to be effective. A true warrior, she considered herself, but throughout these last 2 years not ONCE did Tsubasa EVER get a proper read on SHADOW, not once during their many battles. It had reached a point where she had become rather obsessed with defeating him and proving her strength as the 'sword' which cut down the enemies before it.

So did that mean, he...

**"Figuring it out? The let me show you something to spell it out clearly so you NEVER forget..."**

SHADOW, noticing the disbelieving, shocked, horrified realization which crossed onto Tsubasa's face when he formed his Sword, one modelled exactly like the sword Tensa Zangetsu from the anime Bleach. He personally liked that show, even if people give it a lot of criticism these days, though pushing that aside, it was time to show Tsubasa the result of her actions, the sheer difference between their swords. Raising the blade up to the heavens above, SHADOW clutched its hilt whilst he let out a 'hmph!' sound. At that moment, Black Flames erupted from the blade's base, reaching all the way to the tip whilst shooting right up into the heavens above. Accompanying this, came a constant whirlwind which pushed away everything too close to the back dressed male, whose glowing eyes bore down on his target whilst bringing the blade down onto the world as if smiting it from the heavens above.

All the while, a large amount of killing intent swept across the scene like a massive army flooding through towards a city with the intent to conquer it, creating a wave of pressure which filled the atmosphere like a vicious viral plague dominating an entire town, causing Tsubasa to be unable to even MOVE whilst being forced onto her knees, her breath hoarse as she acted like someone whom hadn't had a drink of water in days. Her shrunken eyes gazed down at the ground with sweat dripping down from her forehead, falling down to the ground and landing with faint PLOP sounds... sounds which seemed to ring in her ears as if they were loud church bells. Even so, the blunette still struggled to raise her head, as in her mind she felt tat if she didn't she would be adding ever more shame to her ability as a sword, and when she finally managed to look up again...

**"The DIFFERENCE between our swords. GETSUGA... TENSHO!"**

SHADOW's words echoed through her mind, carrying the this poison which formed as her inevitable defeat. Everything from then on seemed to happen as if in slow motion, though in reality it happened solely in one instant. From the downward arc of his blade as he called out the name of his following attack, SHADOW released a long, crescent wave of black Flames, one which tore through the highway and created a fissure in its wake as it sailed towards Tsubasa. Said girl just stared at it, sitting there as if paralyzed by the nightmarish-looking oppressive pressure in the air, generated by that one attack. For a moment, Tsubasa felt like that strike would end up hitting her and obliterate her from the fabric of existence itself, and as such her mind completely blanked out with not a shred of thought passing through her brain... even as the attack actually only struck the space aside her and created a fissure on the ground at least 10 train carriages long.

**(OST ends)**

**(Bleach OST - Will of the Heart Plays)**

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… Silence, silence dominated the highway whereas nobody said a thing, not SHADOW nor Tsubasa. Hibiki had still remained in the unconscious land, so nobody would expect her to say anything. No words got spoken simply due to the fact that there wasn't any need for them to, the results from SHADOW's actions had already spoken volumes, much more than anything mere words could ever HOPE to convey. That attack, the GETSUGA TENSHO, the piercing of the heavens, it had completely and utterly won the battle in every manner possible. It won physically, for it topped anything which his opponent had seen from him before as well as the opponents had ever exhibited themselves, . It won mentally, for it completely shattered Tsubasa's will to fight as well as her ability to remain conscious, something SHADOW had seen as truth when she'd fell onto her back a couple seconds after his attack had ended with her eyes rolled toward the back of her head, her Symphogear vanishing to reveal her school uniform once more. It had won pretty much in every way possible, a true defeat for the so-called 'Sword' meant to protect humanity from the Noise.

'If it were me, that girl would be put on isolation until she can sort herself out... this kind of behaviour, if it were anything other than myself, the Noise or Hibiki, then she would likely get herself killed without being able to achieve anything...' SHADOW thought, frowning whilst dismissing his Daito in a swirl of Black Flames. With that done, he slowly trudged towards Tsubasa's fallen form, his hand now in his coat pockets like its brother, before he stopped upon standing over the fallen warrior. 'If I'm honest… its kind of pitiful that she's like this. Obviously she's trained hard, cause even in that battle she still struggled with the might of a warrior, but like I've always told her: anger dulls the blade, and those who strike only out of wild emotion tend to get themselves killed sooner rather than later. That said... I've always been curious on why she is like this, it must have something to do with that concert 2 years ago... or rather, the person she seemed close to back then. Kanade Amou, I believe. f I ever tried to ask, I doubt she would tell me in the state she had been in, nor do I trust those other people even when keeping them away with a 10 foot pole.'

Eyeing her from his position, SHADOW then had another thought when he glanced between her and Hibiki's prone forms. 'They go to the same School, huh? Lydian Private Musical Academy... that place certainly has a lot of attention focused on it, it seems...' the male mused to himself, a sigh escaping his lips as he pondered on what to do with these two. It was a given that he wasn't going to leave Hibiki out here alone, she might catch a cold not to mention he would never feel like a real man if he left an innocent young girl out here like this. Call it sexism if one wished, but SHADOW would do the same if he'd seen a guy unconscious as well. He saw himself as an advocate of gender equality after all, and as much as he currently disliked Tsubasa (read: he LOATHED her right now), he didn't feel it right too leave her to the wolves either, not to mention if Hibiki learned of this she would likely never talk to him again. 'Then, there's nothing for it...' he thought, nodding his head to himself as if confirming his upcoming course of action.

Kneeling down beside her, SHADOW reached forth and grabbed Tsubasa by the waist, picking her up and hoisting her over his shoulder like a fireman rescuing an unconscious civilian from a burning building. He then walked on over to Hibiki and repeated the process, before blasting of in a burst of speed towards the direction of the Academy. He'd be able to bypass their security no problem, and since he didn't have much business to attend to this night he felt he could at least see the school which Hibiki went to. Although, he would NEVER think he would ever step foot within those walls as a student himself or anything, that would be just freaking retarded...

* * *

**Chapter End**

**Here we go guys, sorry this chappie's a little late, had a bit of a moment where I lost some of my writing drive for a while. But its done now, so you can enjoy this one till the next chapter comes out. **

**Now, couple of things: first, I'm trying to stick with the show's explanation of things cause, as much as I don't want to admit it, this is the first time I've written a Symphogear Fic, so if any of you think this may be a copy paste version of canon, that might be why. However, I hope you all will stick around, cause I will be adding elements of my own to the story soon. Hopefully you'll all like what I'm planning for those like SHADOW in the near future... **

**Second, this last scene was particularly difficult to write cause, lets face it, this wasn't one of Tsubasa's highest moments in the series, in fact I wasn't too fond of her at this moment. Sure I could understand why she did what she did in the original canon, but still she had been a tad unfair to poor Hibiki. Hibiki herself didn't make things better for herself either when she mentioned about taking Kanade's place in canon, but to be fair she didn't exactly know what was going on at the time. As such, I wanted to showcase my opinions with this alteration of the incident with SHADOW being the one to not only protect Hibiki like Genjuro had done in canon, but also to absolutely WRECK Tsubasa for her conduct. To me, Genjuro seemed to have taken things a bit lightly on his niece/little sister due to the family bond they shared and the knowledge he had about her, but in this case SHADOW's a true outside party, and he was NOT happy about what she had done, so decided to completely punish her in this fight. As you all saw, he completely dominated Tsubasa cause unlike her, he didn't have baggage which would tie him down at this moment, as well as harboured way more power than Tsubasa (and by extension Division 2) had ever encountered before. I'll not say how powerful SHADOW is at the moment, but suffice it to say that for the last 2 years he hardly treat fighting Tsubasa with any sort of actual seriousness. **

**In this case, several questions have been answered somewhat in Hibiki's mind, but soon new ones will take their place:**

**Who is SHADOW?**

**What are his goals?**

**Why is he so protective of her when she doesn't even know the guy?**

**How will she go from here with this lesson that Tsubasa forcefully shoved down her throat?**

**Not to mention will Tsubasa recover from both her grief over Kanade, as well as the complete 'defeat' at SHADOW's hands?**

**Whelp, you'll have to wait till more chapters come to find out. **

**Peace Out. **


	7. Chapter 7 - A New (and Old) Direction

**Chapter 7 - A New (and old) Direction**

"Hibiki, if you dose off you won't meet the deadline. If you hand that report in, you won't have to retake the exam… I'm telling you, don't fall asleep!"

"I'm not asleep. I'm wide awake. I'm just taking a break…"

The silver moon hung high in the sky and cast its clear, silver light down on the world in bright waves. It would be the clearest thing visible throughout the nightlife within the massive city of Tokyo, with many of the human population looking up at it in awe and wonder at its soft beauty. This opinion would be shared between any person who had an active night life and would have been able to see it in its full glory… though within their dorm room two girls could only have its pale night waves as company through a window. Those two girls turned out to be Hibiki and her best friend Miku, whom had set up a two-desk Table in the middle of the room for a late-night study session, one which would end up being necessary for their future studies in the Academy. The brunette however, if one were to look at the two, would be the one who'd be seen as actually taking this seriously as she typed away on her Laptop like a machine rapidly processing information. Every now and then though, she'd have to lean sideways and repeatedly nag on her friend to get the work done or else things wouldn't look good for her future at the Academy, too.

Speaking of said friend, on the opposite side, Hibiki looked like she could barely keep herself in the land of the awake people as she slipped in and out of consciousness. It wasn't as bad as it could be though since she didn't have too dark a bag under her eyelids, but Miku feared that might end up happening when she noticed the cream haired girl's behaviour, and combined with the fact this had been going on for a fair amount of time… yeah, Miku had every right to be worried for her friend, she just didn't know what the cause was. She'd tried to ask Hibiki about it for a while now, but she either got distracted by something else happening or tried to be evasive about the topic.

"Lately, you've been tired a lot…"

Hibiki upon hearing those words, frowned beneath her arms which she currently was using as her pillow whilst her heavy eyelids remained partially open, her mental struggle to stay awake still ongoing. Even in her currently tired state, she still had to make sure to keep her word to Genjuro and Division 2 not to let anyone else know about her being a Symphogear wielder, and when she did so she had thought she'd be able to bear the burden of keeping her other lifestyle a secret from those she had grown close to… however, Hibiki could NEVER have prepared for the tension which would come to her every time she returned home, for it gradually got worse and worse the more excuses she had to make to keep Miku in the dark about it. It slowly but surely tore her apart inside, which somewhat made her feel grateful that she had a lot of tiredness each night, since it would stay the guilty hand inside of her gut from wrecking her mind with differentiating anxieties. Even so however, there were times when she just couldn't help but lose herself in the fatigue whenever she got the chance to, just so she could escape her current lifestyle and dream of times when things weren't so complicated and were simple again.

This…

This had been her life for the last MONTH…

Knowing now from personal experiences, Hibiki could definitely say she understood those superheroes from that poplar American comic franchise Marvel whom had double lives like that guy with spider powers (First, eww she got grossed out when Tai had mentioned him though it had faded once he showed her pictures of him… his prime self anyways since there was a whole multiverse thing going on, and second, Tai'd introduced her to a whole load of mediums yet her favourites remained action movies). The sheer pressure of having to maintain these two lifestyles, keeping them separate from each other, it wasn't something which could be classed as easy, ESPECIALLY when she remembered the promise, she had made to her friend that they would always tell one another everything. If it weren't for a few things, then Hibiki wondered how long she would last under this pressure.

Aside from her civilian life, her other lifestyle as a Symphogear user wasn't easy in the slightest either. Heck, one could say that one had a whole DIFFERENT can of worms opened for the teen girl. For the last month, she and Tsubasa had to fight around the clock when Noise appearances got detected by Division 2's satellite systems, and because they happened round the clock Hibiki hardly got much sleep which ended up eating into her school life in the form of unstable grades. She couldn't even call it working together as she herself either flailed about like an idiot, not being able to do so well against the Noise and instead just ran around to dodge their attacks. Then, Tsubasa played the lone wolf in their missions as she would jump into the thick of the Noise hordes and fight them there, almost like she were trying to distance herself from Hibiki like she couldn't stand the sight of her… given what happened when she'd tried to attack Hibiki last month, she wouldn't put it past her to feel that way.

No matter how hard she tried, Hibiki just couldn't get through to Tsubasa and tell her that she wanted to work together with her, to be her friend and be someone she could rely on. It wasn't like she would be giving up, but the weight of her failures had slowly been stacking up on her, leading to moments where she had doubted her ability. Even so, she still couldn't help but feel like she was missing something more about Tsubasa's behaviour, like there was one final piece of the puzzle that she still needed in order to fully understand the situation… Hibiki just didn't know what, and Tsubasa giving her the cold shoulder to outright glaring at her with open hostility didn't allow her to understand from that front.

Then, there was SHADOW…

The enigma of the entire Division, including Hibiki herself. She honestly could say that she didn't know what to think of the guy, since at one side the Division 2 has been trying to capture him for interrogation like they had with her, only for him to evade them every chance they got. Hibiki herself had seen a few of those times when they'd randomly detect SHADOW's presence somewhere and by the time they would arrive to the destination, either he had already left the scene with no trail to follow, or he would just tussle with Tsubasa and keep herself out of it with his Firewalls. Though, if she were honest, Hibiki didn't need to see the battles to know that Tsubasa was totally outclassed in them every time, especially since she would see how dishevelled and defeated, she would end up looking by the time the Firewalls were let down allowing her to be free. However, on the other side SHADOW did appear in other instances like whenever she would be on the verge of getting overrun by copious amounts of Noise, taking them out and helping her get rid of the ones on her side of the field before vanishing again before Tsubasa could arrive. Then, sometimes she would often get the feeling of being watched and would sometimes see a figure wreathed in black watching her from rooftops. It wasn't for long and she never got a better look at the figure since they would then vanish in the next second like they weren't even there in the first place, but Hibiki wasn't stupid. She may not be too smart either, but even she could tell who it was that kept watch over her like some kind of dark knight.

Though, if one asked her, then Hibiki would say that instead of just watching her from the shadows, she would rather SHADOW speak to her directly, approach her so that they could talk, so she could learn more about him cause in comparison to Tsubasa, SHADOW seemed MUCH more open to discussion depending on the questions she asked him. Not to mention that he sometimes gave her pointers on how to handle her Symphogear better, which allowed her to make SOME progress with mastering it, but not too much that it would become noticeable. Thus, in her eyes the dude seemed like someone she could get along with, but she wondered what made him so adamant about not letting Division 2 catch him, what made him not like them so much since aside from the repeated attempts to capture him it wasn't like they harmed him physically or mentally in anyway. To her, it felt somewhat like he didn't trust them, but the reasons for which eluded her. Hibiki honestly wished that he could join them and then they could fight the Noise together, it wasn't like they couldn't in her eyes since SHADOW had the ability to destroy them, just like herself and Tsubasa. Not to mention that he DEFINITELY had the capabilities needed to fight, his many battles with Tsubasa could attest to that… #SIGH# life was just a complicated mess.

However, there was one thing which bothered her more than the mysterious nature of SHADOW….

And that was why she found him oh so familiar.

But for now, she had to do the damned damage control she hated so much, lest Miku grow more worried than she likely already was. "I'm fine… no big deal…" she replied tiredly, though she hated herself more for saying it. By the time that she did so, Hibiki finally lost the battle to remain awake, slipping into the land of dreams and missing the final words that Miku had said to her with all the worry a dear treasured childhood friend would have.

Yet, also that same night…

Calm meditation…

Calmness, tranquillity…

Such things repeated themselves within the mind of a certain blunette warrior to quell the storm raging inside of her.

Clad in a hakuma and Haori, Tsubasa sat in the traditional Japanese Seiza sitting position, eyes closed as she calmly remained as still as a billboard, not letting anything from the outside break her solace. The air around her remained sill, the darkness surrounded her in absolute nothingness, with only the few flickering lights from the candles illuminating her surroundings. Her hands lay face down on her thighs, with her hands facing inwards whilst her, radiating a silent serenity. By her side, lay a traditional Japanese Katana, the symbol of the ancient warriors known as the Samurai waiting to be drawn and unleashed upon the enemies of humanity, the very purpose of which Tsubasa had dedicated her very life towards since she had been a young child. The serenity she had always released when out in the public which left others with the inability of approaching her, whether in school or out when she did her Idol work, she had maintained it so through this meditative practice. After all, originally meditation was a practice where an individual used a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. Whilst it remained difficult to actively define meditation, due to the differentiating beliefs surrounding it, Tsubasa preferred this definition the most since it fulfilled the purpose, she intended for herself.

To re-sharpen her mind and repair the constantly present mask of calm serenity she had built over the last 2 years…

Now that she thought about it, she had only truly started meditating about the same time too.

Back then, when things had been better for her, Tsubasa relied so much on Kanade to break out of the shell she had built up around herself to keep from getting hurt, to keep herself focused on her tasks so that she wouldn't disappoint those dear to her. Back then she had been the one source of happiness, of peacefulness and joy that she'd ever known, the one person she could allow her walls to come down for since she knew for a FACT that Kanade wouldn't ever be disappointed in her for whatever she did. She allowed her to relax, to be true to herself, and in those times, Tsubasa could clearly admit to herself that they were the absolute BEST times of her entire life. Taking out the Noise together, gradually rising up as idols and becoming Zwei Wing with each of them being the other wing that would carry them through the skies and beyond. In her eyes, those times could even be considered as heaven, her ultimate paradise.

However, that incident at the Concert changed that irreversibly, reduced her paradise to the complete opposite, a hidden nightmare. Zwei Wing had suffered a huge debilitating blow that day, bigger than any kind of defeat that they had experienced together previously, to the point where it had to be disbanded since one of the 'wings' became unable to function properly. Even now, Tsubasa still saw the aftereffects of that fateful concert throughout the school, with some students silently discussing the glory days of Zwei Wing and what it had been like when they were still around. Zwei Wing… it hadn't just been an idol duo whom took the industry by storm, no it had been so much more than that. They had been the providers of hope to the people, to those whom struggled with hardship in their lives, to give comfort and support to those whom had lost themselves in grief over the many Noise attacks which had taken their loved ones away. One could say that they had ben a beacon of light within the vast darkness which was their reality. Thus, Tsubasa could easily see that the world itself still remained searching for a similar beacon, a ray of hope they could rally behind…

But to her, it wasn't the same as it was back then, not anymore.

To her, the moment that Kanade suffered the way she did, was when Zwei Wing died to her and she lost one of her 'Wings' herself. That moment, she could remember it well, how could she not when Tsubasa regularly had nightmares about it? She remembered the desolation, the despair, the many shambling Noise as they tried to search for any remaining victims before their inevitable demise. The sheer hopelessness she had felt when watching and running towards her friend sing that damn song, only to be forced to deal with more Noise from all directions. To her, it would have been the end for Kanade, and it should have been… only, something ELSE came into being, something that neither she, Kanade or even Division 2 could have ever anticipated.

What was once covered in destruction and ruin…

Became set ablaze by Black Flames.

Those Flames appeared out of nowhere and without warning, completely engulfing the entire stadium with only few places escaping their terrible and ferocious appetite for destruction. To her eyes, though, everything around her became a sea of black, with the flames devouring a large portion of the Noise that they touched. Some had tried to get away from those Flames like they were the own version of the boogieman ghost story, however none of them were able to escape the Flames which ended up engulfing them, melting them down into nothingness whilst devouring them like bloodthirsty animals savagely biting into their prey. She would never have been able to get their shrieks and screams of agony out of her head for months, since they seemed so eerily similar to HUMAN screams, that Tsubasa almost fainted right then and there. It happened so fast too, that Tsubasa honestly had no idea what had happened, nor did she comprehend what she had seen either, with the flames generating gusts of wind which blew through her hair and forced her to cover her eyes, lest the scorching heat from them burn through her eyeballs and render them blind.

Barely though, she had managed to gaze through the tiny gap that her arms had afforded her, trying to see where the source of those flames even as her air supply dwindled into nothingness. However, the last thing she would see from this incident, would be the massive, towering form of the Flames source which leered towards everything around it: a massive, nigh COLOSSAL sized dragon made entirely of Black Flames. The Dragon absolutely TOWERED over even the biggest of the Noise, its shadow pretty much engulfing the entire stadium with its two wings blocking out any sunlight, as if to state that all hope for survival for these pathetic mortal beings below it had just up and left them now that it was here. Furthermore, two hollow crimson eyes upon its snout glared daggers down at the monsters in front of it… and she had a front row seat to the chaotic FURY burning within those two infernal pits. Those eyes, the second which she glanced into them, Tsubasa never felt as close to death as she did at that instance, the amount of insidious malice, malice which had no direction, no goal nor reason to it, just malice and hatred in its purest form, it seemed as though the dragon itself were the guardian of the underworld itself, whereas they would be the unfortunate sinners it would drag down into the infernal depths which it had spawned from. That had been the last thing she'd seen as per mentioned before, until she finally couldn't maintain her consciousness anymore and passed out into the realm of dreams.

In short, a hellish nightmare became the best description Tsubasa held for that Concert instead of the event of hope that it had been meant to be.

Ever since that day, Tsubasa would, as per mentioned previously, get exposed to nightmares of that event, of seeing not only her sole true friend fall the way she did, but also the emergence of one of the most twisted things she had ever seen. Something which made her feel so small, so insignificant and inferior that it reminded her of an ant looking up an approaching boot. It took her MONTHS before she'd been able to resume her Idol activities since she had to take goddamn therapy lessons just to get over the trauma… lessons held by Division 2 sponsored psychiatrists by the way. Even after those lessons though, would shudders of dread and terror run up and down her spine like children in a playground whenever she had the slightest thought about that mortifying, infernal nightmarish creature.

But to her, that important matter got contested by another one…

One revolving around her friend.

When she'd first came too, Tsubasa had found herself in one of the emergency medical facilities Division 2 had constructed for the concert in case things went awry, amongst many injured personal. She hadn't taken long to try and get out to search for Kanade, hoping beyond all hope that her friend had made it, that she hadn't done what she had intended to do back up on that stage, however a combination of Genjuro (whom had his forehead covered by bandages with his right arm in a sling) and Shinji (whom had to walk on crutches till his sling-covered leg would be operational again) stopped her, much to Tsubasa's chagrin. She would have outright SCREAMED at them to demand that she be let out to check on Kanade, such had been the chaotic mental state she had been in at the time… looking back, Tsubasa even felt like she would have drawn a sword in the event of being refused… however, the moment that they had told her of Kanade's fate, any and all resistance had coldly, abruptly left her, leaving nothing but a feeling of hollow emptiness behind.

Her state… it wasn't good, nor was it the worst thing that could have happened, but Tsubasa could not have formed any relief when she had heard of Kanade's condition, for even if this situation improved some, the damage had indeed been done. Her friend had fallen into a deep, dark abyss, one in which she would have an extreme likelihood to NEVER awake from according to the Doctors whom had examined her, her body wouldn't respond to any external stimulus, nor would she show any signs of recovery either, which made the Doctors believe that it wouldn't be long before the abyss took her completely. The only thing which stopped that somehow, was a small number of brainwaves that they could detect, but they were like abysmal at best, plus it wasn't like things could get better even if she did crawl her way out of the abyss. Should Kanade ever recover from her predicament, then only a life of mediocrity would await her, for not only could she no longer use her Gungnir since it had been destroyed during the incident, but she would never be able to step foot onto the stage with her again, the reason being that her 'wing' had been crippled beyond repair. Officially, Zwei Wing had been 'killed' and there was nothing, absolutely NOTHING that Tsubasa could do about it.

One could understand how soul crushing that had been for Tsubasa…

Not to mention that it started her battle of idol hood which she had taken the moment that she had sufficiently recovered through the therapy lessons. She couldn't afford to lose this battle, not once, for that would signal the 'defeat' of her best friend's ability to remain alive even if barely clinging to it. In her experience, in order to help her friend fight on against the hands of death, she needed a lot of financial support, more so than what Division 2 could realistically make and afford to provide, so as such she had to do what she could, if the corporate partners who sponsored her wanted something done a certain way regarding her music, she would have to accommodate. She would be a sell-out sometimes, whilst others she would sing with the cold detachment that she needed to re-sharpen herself into the blade that protected humanity. Like she'd mentioned before, singing wasn't the same for her anymore, for it had been mostly Kanade helping her fly alongside her back then, but now that she were alone, that mentality had to change… along with everything else. THAT would be what she would have to become in order to carry on Kanade's legacy. In order to atone for the weakness, she showed back then, for if she were better, if she were stronger, faster, then maybe she could have prevented Kanade from doing what she had done, so that they could continue their singing as Zwei Wing together.

These thoughts constantly cycled through her mind, allowing Tsubasa to restore the 'mask' she put on herself completely after a month's worth of work since that outburst back on the highway. No longer would she allow herself to be goaded by the intense grudge that she felt towards SHADOW for defeating her, no she actually should thank him, for he had reminded her exactly of why she was a blade in the first place. The flames of rage within her had already settled down now, becoming a cold, barren and frozen wasteland instead, all the while she slowly stood on one leg whilst swiftly drawing her sword in one fluid motion, putting its tip over one of the candles and cutting its flame in half. All the while, her eyes shone from the light, a bright blue shine reflecting off them with a look of cold determination taking over her features. 'I… am a blade. That is all. Nothing more, nothing less…'

* * *

BING-BING-BING!

It happened a few hours after Hibiki had fallen asleep, too tired to continue her schoolwork, her Phone staring to ring that is. With the tone that it used, it seemed to be a message of some kind, so Hibiki (Hibiki having woken up about 10 minutes ago and thus had been scrambling to get her work done since then. Seriously, Miku had neve seen someone work so fast that their hands became a blur) reached out to grasp her phone. When she did so and felt a comfortable enough grip, she pulled it over to herself and opened the screen, showing a message which… she honestly should have guessed since she had so few contacts these days, but the message turned out to be a Division 2 meeting notice that she had to attend. Her face contorted into a frown of displeasure at the message, knowing what this would have her do to her friend, even so it looked like she had little choice in the matter. 'And I just started homework, too…'

Unfortunately to make things worse, Miku noticed the downing of her friend's mood, and with concern in her voice the black-haired girl questioned said friend on the matter. "What is it now?" she questioned, before tilting her head sideways as she tried to think of a possible answer herself based off the behaviour her friend usually exhibited. "Don't tell me you set your alarm to PM instead of AM." Yeah, that had happened a couple times back in their children days, once when they were studying at an afterschool club and a few times when they did sleepovers together. Let's just say… that Hibiki had been prone to clutzy actions ever since she had been younger, to the point where Miku pretty much expected it as of current times.

"Uh, no…"

"What kind of things need doing at this late? Aside from your homework, but that's beside the point…"

All Hibiki did in response was to chuckle nervously, unsure as to how to answer her this time.

"… I guess I can cover for your night-time trips during curfew hours…"

"Thanks."

Hibiki exuded a relieved sigh when she heard Miku reluctantly agree to help her out without her even asking about it. One of the greatest things about having friends, was that they understood that there were some things which needn't be said at the inopportune moment. Her relief got short lived however, as it soon got replaced with confused curiosity when Miky turned her Laptop around a full 180 degrees, showing her the device's screen. "Do me a favour in return, though." When Hibiki looked at the screen, her eyes widened and a mesmerised expression formed on her face when she saw it to be a recorded video of a shower of shooting stars, falling through the night skies. From what the video said, it seemed that such a shower would be happening soon at one of the parks close to the School. "Remember we promised each other that we'd go looking at shooting stars one day? That's out of the window if your swamped with reports."

For a moment, Hibiki made to say something when she made to open her mouth, but a flashback of the message and a quick glance at the latop's in-built time display quickly pulled her back into reality. As such, an awkward and forced laugh escaped her throat as her response followed suit. "I'll take care of it! Now, I really…!" She began, before beginning to take off her clothes after standing up from the desk she sat at. Unfortunately for her, seemed like she had been in such a hurry that she started having difficulty with the upper portion of said clothes.

At this, Miku let out a sigh similar to parents would with their young toddlers when they changed closed, a 'what will I do with you?' feel radiating from her right now. Afterwards, she slowly stood up too, walking on over to her friend and proceeding to help her get out her clothes for her. "Come on… Raise your arms." she muttered under her breath as Hibiki quickly stopped struggling against her friend's help.

"… I guess I really am hopeless, huh?"

"?"

For a moment, the tone of Hibiki's voice changed, and in that moment Miku wondered what her friend was talking about. Part of her stated that it was likely to do with her klutz behaviour, however another part of her wondered if it were perhaps something else entirely… although she didn't ask her about it herself for confirmation of this. Mostly due to how secretive Hibiki had become lately.

Meanwhile Hibiki herself, as she had to accept Miku's help with changing her clothes, couldn't help but think back to the near fight experience she had with Tsubasa, if SHADOW had not intervened and protected her from what Genjuro and Ryouko had told her. They had mentioned how she had been found close to the Academy with Tsubasa as well, leading to them bringing them to their medical facilities to be checked out. Hibiki herself had been able to leave relatively easily, but Tsubasa was a different story altogether… although, that wasn't what she thought about currently.

* * *

**(Flashback)**

**"You have no determination. You treat this like some funny little game. How DARE you think you can wield Kanade's Symphogear!"**

**(Flashback END)**

* * *

Those cold, yet fury-filled words echoed through her mind, along with the memory of Tsubasa attacking her in cold blood because of them. Hibiki didn't believe that she would have been able to dodge that attack or that she could fight Tsubasa to a standstill either, so her reflexive action was to raise her arms up in some dumb attempt to protect herself… however, despite suffering no PHYSICAL damage, the incident DID leave her with some mental damage instead. 'Me, treating this like some funny little game, huh…?' she thought to herself, remembering what she had been like before and throughout the month that followed. Slowly, she realized that, or rather she had realized this long ago but just hadn't admitted it to herself, that Tsubasa's words… weren't entirely wrong.

The way she had been acting like some kind of generic superheroine in an action movie…

The sheer serious and the magnitude of Genjuro and Division 2's actions.

This wasn't just some fantasy tale of epic adventure and great battles, no this was completely the opposite, but she just hadn't realized that until Tsubasa literally cut the fantasy she had into ribbons with her biting words. Yet, as the girl thought more and more about it, she felt guilt and shame about her previous actions, as looking back on it she DID see what the blunette had been talking about… Not to mention that it resonated with her on a much deeper level, too.

"If you don't put in the effort, of course you will crash and burn. Its not going to get better either…"

* * *

Later…

The main blast doors to Division 2's meeting room, which was separated from the Command room and had a much cosier atmosphere, opened to reveal the cream haired girl clad in her school uniform. "S-Sorry I'm late!" She cried out, before stopping just before the Blast doors shut behind her, Hibiki taking a moment to capture her breath with her upper body leaning forwards with her hands on her knees. Her shoulders and chest rose and fell with the girl's erratic breathing, until she'd recovered enough of her composure to stand up and make a light jog to the waiting Genjuro and Ryouko, whom stood side by side with Tsubasa sitting cross legged on one of the Sofas. Meanwhile, Aoi and Sakuta sat before some monitors with a bigger holographic screen looming over the room. Even in the comforting rooms, these things still seemed present. It seemed.

"Its alright, dear. Now then, now that we're all here let's be friends and talk." Ryouko commented, not minding the way Tsubasa kept her eyes closed whilst she elegantly drunk some coffee. She never got the chance to say anything to the blunette idol though, as the holographic screen them buzzed to life, quickly showing on screen an image of… well, what looked to be a digital map of the city from a bird's eye view. Furthermore, throughout the screen, there seemed to be dozens of crimson blips scattered throughout, some larger than others whilst a lot of them also had smaller black blips near them, with a rare few being away from the red ones.

"Any opinions?"

"Um… Lots of Blips."

This became the cue for Genjuro to speak, and when he heard Hibiki's rather blunt and direct answer, he chuckled in amusement instead of exasperation. "You got that right." He commented with a small smirk. He then glanced over at the screen again, this time wearing a contemplating expression as he cupped his chin with his right hand. "This is a record of all the Noise appearances throughout the last month, whereas the black ones are where we have documented SHADOW's appearances." He explained, each of them frowning at this information. With how so many of his appearances had been observed by their operatives, it would have been stupid of them to NOT record the various appearances SHADOW had made throughout the last 2 years… although this screen only showed the ones from the last month. If they had shown the appearances for the last 2 years… well, they'd need a bigger map to display them all. Aside from the mysterious black dressed male, the Noise appearing like this in a month… it didn't sit well with those whom had extensive experience fighting against them, although one of them didn't show the slightest change in emotion. "How much do you know about the Noise, Hibiki?"

"Well…"

Upon being asked this question, Hibiki hummed thoughtfully as she looked up to the ceiling, mentally trying to recollect what she had known about the Noise like someone trying to put the words for an essay together within their brains. It didn't take her long to deliver her response though, and when she did Genjuro nodded in approval whereas Hibiki had to admit that she only knew so much about them due to being required to write a report about them for her homework.

"That's right." Ryouko chirped, clapping her hands together before going on a further in-depth explanation. "Its been 13 years since the UN's started discussing the Noise. Until recently, they haven't been that much of a problem so there wasn't much of a need to disclose information about them to the general public, but as you are no doubt aware that's no longer the case."

Genjuro then chimed in with his arms crossed under his chest. "We believe that many of the Demons and beasts which have appeared in legends and folklore are actually based on the Noise themselves."

"Noise Outbreaks, as per mentioned, are rare so the string of them that's been happening is an extraordinary case no matter how many times one slices it. This does make one wonder if there's some sentient will behind it, but that's likely just me speculating as a researcher." Ryouko remarked, thoughtfully before giggling at the end of her sentence there.

Then, for the first time since she had arrived, Tsubasa looked up from her coffee and opened her eyes, her blue pools shimmering with a strong intensity as she spoke. "Lydian Private Musical Academy is located close to the majority of the Outbreaks. Its likely that if someone is indeed artificially producing the outbreaks, then they will most likely be trying to target what is stored within sacristy D: Durandal." Tsubasa commented, taking another sip of her Coffee to quench her throat.

"Uh… what is Durandal?"

When Hibiki questioned this, Aoi turned on her chair so she faced the young girl and answered her question. "Unlike the Ame No Habbakiri or Gungnir, Durandal is a mostly completed gathering of Relic Fragments which we keep below us, on a floor we call the 'Abyss'. That's Durandal."

Sakuta then followed suit after looking behind him at the rest of the group. "The fragments of Tsubasa's Ame No Habakiri or the Gungnir in your chest, they both require your own songs in order to be amplified and awakened as Symphogears. However, that is not the case for a complete Relic like the Durandal. Our analysis indicates that if completed relics are materialized, they can maintain 100% effectiveness, not to mention that they can be wielded by those other than the singer themselves."

"That's the Sakurai Theory I devised!" Ryouko suddenly exclaimed, getting everyone's attention as she shrugged her shoulders, not losing any of her spunk even with the following words. "Though if one wants to activate a complete Relic, they will need the appropriate levels of Phonic Gain, the energy provided by the Songs sung by singers." After saying this, her demeanour shifted, becoming one of confused curiosity as she put an index finer on her chin. "Although, some recent exceptions have been made where, no matter how much Phonic Gain is amassed, they won't offer us a single response… though then again, that's a story for another time." She remarked upon noticing how Hibiki looked like she would be overheating like a kettle boiling over as she tried to process this amount of information.

At this point, an intense atmosphere descended as Genjuro stood up, his tone grave whilst he spoke… and when he did, people quickly realized he referred to the Concert 2 years ago. "2 years have passed since then. Maybe now Tsubasa's voice will…" he spoke, trailing off as unfortunate memories resurfaced within his mind… memories which Tsubasa shared judging by the tightening of her expression. Her hand, calm and controlled this whole time, then clenched the cup she held a little tighter as screams and tormented sounds from that time filled her mind.

The atmosphere grew heavier and heavier by the second, something which even Hibiki noticed… though, one couldn't blame her for that. Since she knew somewhat of how bad that concert had gone on their end, Hibiki lowered her head as she thought about it. As she did so, she did noting at first… but then something flashed through her mind, causing her eyes to widen slightly as a small gasp left her lips. "Ah!"

"Hm? What is it, Hibiki."

"That concert… my memories of it are a bit bad, but I think I'm starting to remember something about it…" Hibiki began, frowning as she crossed her arms under her chest and closed her eyes, trying to grasp that feeling which had just now jumped right out at her in that brief moment. This even caused Tsubasa to look at her, as if she were interested in what the new user of Gungnir (which still did not sit well with her) had to say. It took a few seconds, but Hibiki did finally catch that spark in her mind, causing her to open her eyes and look towards the rest of the adults. "Um… has anyone heard of Vritra before?"

"Hm?"

"Vritra?"

"What do you mean by that, Hibiki?"

When she asked that question, she got confused responses from Ryouko, Sakuta and Genjuro in that order, as each of the adults didn't know what the young girl meant by that. However, Hibiki indeed continued on her short burst of memory recollection as she kept her head down, her eyes shimmering like the surface of a lake. "Well… its faint, barely there, but… I do remember someone saying that name before everything around me became black. I… I'm not sure if this helps or anything, but…"

In regard to this, everyone blinked in surprise, not having expected this development, and from the rookie no less, especially Tsubasa whom looked like she wanted to say something but decided to keep it to herself for the time being. "Vritra you say?" Ryouko repeated loudly, before she resumed her thinking pose whilst recollecting what she'd known about that name. "… Ah yes, now that you mention it, there was a creature like that recorded in myth, wasn't there? Vritra, either a Vedic serpent or dragon in Hinduism, the personification of drought and adversary of Indra. No matter the versions through different myths, the basis of it is that it was a bit of a troublemaker that Indra had to slay like a hero defeating the monster in fairy tales. Still, THAT's a plot twist I didn't expect…"

"Nevertheless, that bit of info can be a lead we can look into at a different time." Genjuro decided, bringing them back to the main topic. "Its unlikely that we will be able to get permission to activate Durandal from the Japanese government, furthermore it seems that the USA have bee using the peace treaty as grounds to demand that we hand over Durandal. We can't activate it or risk it becoming an international issue, furthermore our security reports say that in the last few months there have been over tens of thousands of attempts to hack into our systems. Its not surprising that we cannot work out the attacker." He then shrugged his shoulders in a 'what can you do?' manner similar to Miku when she had been with Hibiki back in their room, though the man remained unaware of this. "We cannot just declare the USA guilty without evidence, but… we have logs. I don't think we've seen the end of this."

"Commander Kazanari."

Just then, Genjuro glanced towards the approaching form of the man in the suit whom had handcuffed Hibiki way back when, Shinji Ogawa. A quick discussion revealed that the guy had to go and take Tsubasa out for her Idol work, as apparently the guy served as a Manager for her alongside her work colleague in the Division. Hibiki even almost swooned when she got a chance to be handed a business card by Shinji himself, something which created ripples of amusement throughout the room that destroyed the previous dark and intense atmosphere… though, Hibiki got the feeling that they preferred she did that instead of wallow in misery all the time. Not her cup of tea either, so all's well that ends well!

* * *

**"Hmmm… things seem to be starting to pick up again. Had to make more than a few appearances this entire last week… something big must be going down in the near future."**

Hidden amongst a small forest outside of the city, one black dressed male currently leaned against a Tree, his form shrouded by the darkness of both the night and the clothes that he wore. He leaned on it by pressing his back against the tree trunk with a single boot placed on its base, his arms crossed beneath his chest. The flapping of his Coattails remained ever visible thanks to the light breeze which blew through the air, ruffling his hood all the while. One could say that he found the flapping and rustling of his coat, something which normally one would see as annoying, surprisingly soothing to listen to, even SHADOW himself wasn't sure why he felt like that. Though then again, considering how he came to be this way it did make more sense. Nevertheless, his crimson slitted eyes remained fixed upon the city itself, or to be more specific the Lydian Private Musical Academy where things seem to be happening around. Throughout the last month or so, SHADOW had kept track of every place where the Noise had been appearing, having quickly come to the conclusion that the Academy itself may be in for a wild ride in the foreseeable future. A

**[Perhaps it is the so-called 'enemy' whom could be orchestrating the Noise attacks? Those Division 2 slouches may not think of it as a likely scenario no matter how much they say otherwise, however the unexpected is usually the case in the end.]**

When he heard the voice of his sole partner in this world reverberate within his mind, the male nodded his head in response, having come to a similar conclusion himself. The thing was, SHADOW had come to that conclusion a while ago, way longer than Division 2 seem to have progressed, the reasoning being that he had seen the signs early on. However, unlike them he didn't fear them as much, if at all... those whom were potentially controlling the Noise that is. This mostly had to do with the extreme confidence in his powers and abilities which he had been honing for the last few years, but it also came from how the lack of information there was about him that the carious parties involved had on him. THAT had been, and still was in reality, his strongest trump card that he had yet to play on, since throughout the encounters with them SHADOW had determined long ago that Division 2 had NO idea on what he really was. They seemed to be utterly in the dark, like a lost little lamb in the middle of a raging inferno... which to him, seemed oddly pitiful when he thought about it. **"Yeah… Hopefully, she will be alright. Otherwise I'll have to step in myself."**

Still, none of that mattered to SHADOW as much as Hibiki Tachibans'a safety, or rather, her ability to survive the upcoming trials. From what he had observed of her through the last month, SHADOW realized that she was still struggling with some of her internal conflicts, as her fighting style seemed FAR too simple to be actually called fighting, Instead, it looked more like she was flailing herself about like an idiot, leaving herself open to attacks from the other Noise. He did what he could as her ally, but even then that could only go so far, the BEST thing she could do right now would be to sort herself out. Thoughts of her filled his mind, and his eyes flashed with a brief glint of concern before his casual stoic look replaced it... his hands clutching his arms slightly tighter betraying how he felt truly though as he stepped away from the Tree. Walking forward a few places, SHADOW mentally ran a checklist for where he would have to be tonight, all the while these thoughts continued to circulate. With what was coming to be, he hoped that soon she would grow a backbone and actually grow stronger, cause whether she liked it or not, the world she stepped into wouldn't allow for any half-assed beliefs to shine through.

No, one had to have proper conviction if they wanted their ideals, their very PRIDE and the greatest thing humanity possessed if one asked him, to be heard. If there was ONE thing which he had to give those adults, it would be that they had access to a lot of resources, resources and information which Hibiki could make use of to better understand her Symphogear and how it operated, not to mention he had heard rumours about the one in charge of the Division and how he had an extensive ability in martial arts. Perhaps Hibiki could learn under him and grow her own fighting style that way, cause whether Tsubasa likes it or not, Hibiki IS Gungnir's newest wielder, therefore if the two of them could affirm their own resolve and get things going then that would benefit all parties involved. As for the wielder of that Katana Symphogear, Ame No Habakiri he felt it to be considering the chant she used to activate it, THAT whole mess wasn't something he wanted to touch at the moment. In his mind, Tsubasa was nearly a lost cause at this point since she REFUSED to let anyone help her through whatever problems she was having, problems which seemed to be over several years old according to what he had theorized about her.

**[Putting aside your seemingly mind-boggling intense devotion to the Gungnir user, should the grand scheme of things not show any improvement in the near future then we may have to give up our autonomy... maybe even your true identity, so we can gain the upper hand.]**

Instantly, SHADOW tensed when he heard those words coming from hi partner's mouth, his form becoming rigid and a brief heat wave being released from his form before SHADOW abruptly stopped mid-step. Now THAT can of worms, he had yet to delve into mostly due to his worry about Hibiki's safety, but the more that he thought about it the more he realized the logic behind it. At this stage, it slowly dawned on him that perhaps revealing himself to Hibiki may be the ideal 'Kickstarter' that Hibiki would need in order to get herself straightened out. This wasn't a decision he had made out of the blue either, as SHADOW and his partner had gone over it together in much detail multiple times this last month.

This debate took the form of whether or not he should risk exposing himself to Hibiki and by extension Division 2, something that SHADOW had wanted to avoid like the plague these last 2 years since, as much as people don't want to say it, he didn't see adults as worthwhile existences. Or rather, ones in positions of power like politicians, businessmen etc. As such, he never wanted those guys to know ANYTHING about him or what he did due to the risk of them being too power hungry for their own good, not to mention that they might try to pull a fast one on him to force him to join them... in that case he would incinerate the whole lot of them under the cover of darkness, since at that point Hibiki would either be getting her few bits of rest so she and her friend Miku wouldn't be an unnecessary casualty.

So yeah... one could say he didn't trust Division 2 at all, which was a shared point between the two of them.

As for the debates themselves however... He'd rather call them 'heated debates' instead of full-blown arguments, cause as much as he didn't like certain parts of his partner's personality, he DID have to admit that it could indeed have a strong logic behind its words. Whilst neither of them trusted Division 2 all that much, it was getting to the point where SHADOW felt that he was reaching the limits of what he could do as a solo party in all this, since as much as he wanted to stay alone he wasn't exactly a vast military organisation with lots of resources at his beck and call. As such, Division 2 had a large lead on him there, whereas what he had going for him was his ability to quickly move from place to place to deal with threats quickly. So far he had been able to do his business well enough on his own, but with the recent surge in Noise, it was starting to get more difficult for him to deal with said issues in a covert, discreet manner.

Not to mention that through his own secret investigations, the so-called third part in all this definitely existed thanks to what he had uncovered (him having launched sneak attacks on one of their members' asses before), and what he had found seemed to showcase that this party had access to just as great a resource pool, which would make it really frustrating to take them down. A loner he may be, but a fool he isn't, SHADOW remained well aware that at his current level of power, he wouldn't be able to solo entire organisations just yet. Not only that, but exposing his identity to them also meant giving up a lot of his information, which cuts into his element of surprise since this third party may have rats spying on Division 2 from the inside, plus he couldn't make it so that Hibiki kept this a secret from them since A: she didn't like secrets and B: unlike himself or Division 2, she'd just been a normal kid growing up through her teenage life, she's barely keeping herself stable in both worlds as it is, revealing himself to her and explaining everything whilst making her comply with secrecy would put an unneeded strain on her everyday life.

'So, things have finally reached this point, huh...?' SHADOW wondered as he looked up at the stars above, his lips curling into a frown. '... What a complicated mess of a world we live in...'

* * *

The following day...

"Mankind is cursed! At least I am for sure!"

A loud cry escaped the lips of a certain cream haired girl, out into the Lydian Academy school yard as she sat with her friends, who formed a circle with her, as she madly scrambled to write up her essay like a mad woman possessed. All the while occasionally being spoon fed from said friends since she would likely be missing lunch thanks to this. Though, compared to the day she had so far where she got scolded again by the teacher for not paying attention in class, as well as the usual antics of Ryouko and Division 2... yeah. All in all, she may be complaining NOW of all times, but right now would be childsplay in comparison. Though, in contrast to this the day which was in the middle of its cycle looked absolutely beautiful, what with the cloudless skies above and the sun shining unimpeded by anything else.

"You don't have time to be messing around, you know." Miku lightly chastised Hibiki whilst taking a spoonful of food. With concern blooming like a set of flowers onto her face, Miku gave an important reminder about the essay she was writing up. "The deadline for the report is this afternoon, if you hadn't fallen asleep last night you would have completed it by now."

"S-Sorry, ahahahahaha… Well, to be fair I AM going at my limit as we speak."

Hibiki responded towards Miku's light scolding with a nervous and awkward laughter at first, but then switched to a more focused look when she gazed down at her paper once again, her eyes literally burning with the determination to finish her assignment on time. Her writing tool literally moved as if it had its own will as she recalled what she could for the report to be successful... although she had a bit of trouble with it. 'What I wouldn't give for some sugar right now...' Hibiki mentally noted, signing in slight dissatisfaction.

"Well, its not like your going to actually get much done now. This isn't an anime."

One of her friends did note this, Hibiki felt, but she remained so focused on getting this sentence down that she kind of just drowned it out at this point. Hibiki definitely felt the pressure of the upcoming deadline breathing down the nape of her neck, especially since the teacher had a thing about scolding her whenever she showed any tardiness, so she didn't want to add anything like missed homework deadlines to that list. If she did, then she'd firmly believe that the world was cursed to cause her no end of misfortune.

Just them, Hibiki heard the sound of movement, due to the grass rustling as she caught the movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking to the source, her eyes widened in surprise, shock and slight betrayal when she noticed her friends getting up and making to leave the area... save for Miku of course. "Eh? You guys are leaving? I thought you were going to help!" she exclaimed in a fit of panic.

Yumi became the one to respond to her, offering a consoling smile whilst she replied. "We shouldn't keep you from your essay any longer, especially since the teacher's already gotten mad at you once already. Any more and we might be responsible for breaking your track record." With this, Yumi gave her an apologetic wink, whilst everyone else save for Miku put their lunches away for the intent of heading somewhere else. "So guys, what do you say to playing some badminton on the rooftop's field?"

"And we're not questioning why they have something like that up there?"

"Girl, if I've learned anything, its that not to sweat the small stuff and just enjoy it."

"Huh, true that. Anyways, that sounds fun actually. What about you, Hina?"

With the plans made, each of the girls gaze got directed to Miku's spot, the young girl still sitting down unlike them and staying close to Hibiki. A quick glance towards her friend allowed her to see the massive puppy dog eyes Hibiki sported, as if begging her to stay with her so she could get this done by the deadline, almost like she were her last line of defence against an ongoing tide. With the small side of small teardrops in them, Miku couldn't help but sweat drop... nonetheless, it didn't do much to change her answer as she looked towards the others with a bright smile on her lips. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll be staying with Hibiki, since I promised to help her finish her report."

Her reply given, the female trio didn't argue with her, and accepted her decision whilst Hibiki looked at her like she wanted to hug the life out of the girl, her practical saviour in these dark times. With that, the trio left, leaving Hibiki and Miku who waved them off back in the schoolyard in which case the young Gungnir user looked over towards her friend with a big happy grin on her features. "Thanks again, Miku, really." she proclaimed, before offering a hand with the following words being made in the form of a promise. "Lets watch the shooting stars together tonight!"

"Hm!"

* * *

That afternoon, Miku stood by the teacher's office, leaning against a wall whilst she waited for the inevitable return of her best friend. The young girl had spent the majority of the afternoon here after tirelessly helping Hibiki write out her report, so she felt just as worried as her friend would be. If Hibiki didn't pass this assignment then they wouldn't be able to watch the shooting stars together like they had promised, and THIS was something they had promised that they'd one day do as children. So yeah, it had been pretty important to the two of them. As she waited, listening for the sounds of Hibiki's footsteps which would signal her to be leaving the office, Miku's chest felt uncomfortably tight, anxiety riddled within her eyes as she pursed her lips, attentively awaiting the conclusion to their efforts.

'Hibiki… please make it through this assignment...'

All of this waiting around, the occasional praying for things to work out... it finally came to a head when the door to the teacher's office slid open and Hibiki walked out, looking like she had just gone through a ringer and would fall apart at any moment. Not a good sign, Miku felt as she lightly jogged up to her. "What did the teacher say?" she questioned nervously as Hibiki closed the door behind her.

"'What is this chicken scratch? They look like hiero-somethings'."

"... That's not my question, you know. You were late, so did she accept your report?"

For a moment, Hibiki remained silent, and Miku feared the worst had happened and they wouldn't be able to see the shooting stars... though that soon got turned on its head when she twirled around with a complete 180 in terms of her mood. "She said she was willing to make an exception!" she proclaimed happily, much to Miku's joy as the Gungnir user held a hand up, her upbeat expression never dimming. "I'm so tired, I wanna nap for a week!" she bellowed in a bubbly manner, making to go do a high five with her friend...

"TACHIBANA! QUIET DOWN!"

… Only to become as straight as a piece of straw alongside Miku when the angry yell of the teacher came out of the Office, having apparently overheard them. In fact, one wouldn't be wrong to consider the two of them looking like two scared rabbits at the moment, with the teacher being the hungry wold in sheep's clothing. A while of waiting passed, before the Gungnir user finally spoke to her friend in a much more level tone of voice. "Well, we should get ready, the shooting stars will be appearing shortly, so we can't afford to miss it." She remarked, getting a nod from Miku.

"Alrightie then, just wait here for a sec whilst I go get our bags from the classroom." she answered, Hibiki nodding in response as Miku turned on her shoed and broke off into a jog, heading off back to their classroom at high speeds.

Seeing this brought up a wave of Nostalgia for the young Symphogear wielder, causing her to smile in a similar manner whilst her eyes glazed over, memories of the past filling her mind. "Man, Miku definitely hasn't rusted over since coming here…" she muttered under her breath, a slight giggle escaping her mouth. As someone whom had once been on the track team at their old school, Miku always did have good stamina, not to mention she was REALLY good at it to the point where if she hadn't met her, Hibiki didn't doubt she could have gone pro.

Nevertheless, this would be something she could DEFINITELY record in her list of 'best things to happen to Hibiki forever' list, something which she saw as a light at the end of a long tunnel that was all the bad stuff which had happened to her so far. Hibiki could hardly contain herself as she nearly bounced up and down on the spot with how excited and jittery she felt inside, though she DID control herself since she was still near the Teacher's Office. 'Ah, things are finally looking up...' she thought to herself, feeling lie the angels themselves were lifting her up and prepping to carry her over to her paradise, the paradise that is spending time with her childhood friend that she had somewhat of a strained relationship due to the things which were beyond her control...

RING-RING-RING-RING!

… And then the feeling switched to the complete opposite with the angels shedding their disguises to reveal themselves as twisted Devils, planning to drop her right into the centre of the infernal abyss that was reality. Hibiki's mood pretty much plummeted to the depths of the void as she slowly glanced down at her breast pocket, where she could hear the tell-tale ringing of her Phone. No... why? Why now? Why was this happening now of all times? Such thoughts filled her mind as a sense of frustration built itself upon the mountains that was her being at the unfairness that reality had suddenly played on her. There wasn't many people who called her often, and at this time of day either, except for one group... one could pretty much guess who it was at this time, right?

Slowly, Hibiki reached into her pocket and pulled her Phone out, opening it to see who it was, and just like she had feared, it was a call from Division 2 waiting to be connected. Never before had she so wished she could have just ignored a call like this and just go out with Miku like she had intended, but Hibiki could not do that. No, she had to do this, since she had jumped into this world, no matter how much pain it had caused her, she couldn't let people suffer if she could help it. As such, Hibiki slowly raised it up to her ear after accepting the call. "Yeah?"

"Hibiki. There's a Noise presence, its a big one, deep beneath the school's in-built subway. This is the closest that the happenings have ever gotten to the Academy, the situation has become critical. We'll send you the co-ordinates, please hurry."

The familiar gruff, stern voice of the middle aged Genjuro rang through her ears, at a volume which wouldn't be heard by anyone but Hibiki herself. For a moment, she remained stunned with an extra sense of disbelief, disbelief that the Noise had appeared so close to her School like this. They HAD said that Lydian had been surrounded by Noire happenings, but she didn't think it could get like this so quickly! This only worsened the guilt and pain she felt inside of her though, as Hibiki felt like another part of her was dying inside since she would be forced to do something she had NEVER wanted to do, especially not to Miku: Break their promise.

Such a thing tore into her worse than the words which Tsubasa had cut into her with last month, ripping through her heart and leaving it in tatters as she clenched her free fist, careful not to destroy her Phone out of the sheer frustration welling up inside. Her hair shadowed her eyes as she felt her teeth gnash together, trying all she could to keep a level head but failing miserably... kind of how she felt right now as a friend. They had done so much together, they were inseparable her and Miku. They did stuff from shopping to gossiping about if and when they could find a boyfriend (a secret fantasy of hers that only Miku knew about), and the worst thing was that they had promised to always be by each other's side... this being the worst due to the situation she would be in now forcing her to commit something she never wanted in the first place.

Still... she had no other choice but to do so, in order to stay true to her promise and to protect others from being hurt by the Noise. Now Hibiki could understand the struggles superheroes in their movies and comics had with their double lives.

Darnit...

God darnit!

'No... why? Why is this happening? What did I do to deserve this?' the girl couldn't help but think to herself, already dreading the moment that she would have to break the news to her friend, knowing just how much it would sting... for the both of them.

* * *

Later, Hibiki stood by the entrance to the subway, having gotten there so fast that she hardly even paid attention to the journey here. The weather outside could clearly be seen as reflecting her current mood too, as it looked both cloudy and bleak with there being a chance for rain as well. If it truly did rain, then Hibiki didn't know if she would be able to hold back the tears which'd mix in with that rain. Nevertheless, she could hear the sounds of the Noise down below, and even though there weren't any civilians down there, it wouldn't be a good idea to leave them alone since it could take a long time for them to self-carbonize... far too long for Division 2's or her liking. Thus, she knew what she had to do in order to solve this problem...

But first, she had to make the call to Miku…

'Alright, here goes...' the cream haired girl thought whilst she reached into her pocket again and pulled out her Phone. She then flipped it open, scrolling through her contacts in order to find Miku's number, her hands trembling as a tightness formed within her throat. Throughout the journey here, Hibiki had been like a blank slate, but now that's he was about to enter the battlefield like she had for many times during the last month, she had to steel herself so she could focus o the task at hand.

And so, Hibiki made to press the call button after choosing her friend's number from her contact list...

**"I'll be taking that."**

... Only, something happened which stopped her, as well as caused Hibiki to gasp in shock. For a brief instance, a deep, dark and masculine voice broke through the atmosphere's tense silence. The next thing she knew, Hibiki felt someone rush past her, swiping something out of her hand and leave a gust of wins in their wake which almost knocked her over. Despite doing the cliché ting of flailing her arms in an attempt to regain her balance, Hibiki fell onto her side, a low groan escaping from her lips at the result. "Uuuuuu… Ouchies…" the Symphogear user commented with a pained sound escaping her lips, all the whilst she slowly got back to her feet and checked herself over for any injuries. Luckily it seemed that the fall didn't do much to her, if at all since she could feel the Symphogear's protection doing its thing. Even so, she still had one question on her mind as she looked over to the one whom had knocked her down in the first place.

That question, the identity of the new arrival, soon got answered upon her gaze landing on the familiar crimson slitted eyes and black attire of a certain male. "S-SHADOW...?" she mumbled in realization, her eyes wide with surprise at seeing him. Outside and throughout the city was one thing, but why was he here within the Academy itself? Se didn't realize that someone like him could get through the security in this place, but the reality of him standing before her quickly convinced her of the opposite. Her gaze then fell upon his hand where, to her shock, he held her phone in place, having put it back onto the home screen."M-My Phone...!" she exclaimed as she saw this, making to move forward to reclaim it...

**"Tell me, Hibiki Tachibana, what is it that you want?" **

… Only for him to suddenly speak those words in the form of a question to her, stopping her in her tracks. "Eh?" she blinked momentarily, then blinked again as she tried to register in her brain what he had asked her. SHADOW would have had to try and reiterate his question, but in the end he didn't since he had no need to. After all, Hibiki managed to process the question quick enough to give him a response. "What I want, you ask me...?" She began, before looking down. At first she had wanted to say to give her phone back so she could call Miku and let her know of the broken promise, however … something else popped into her mind. Something self-centred, something which went the complete opposite direction of what she had intended to do upon joining Division 2... And in her moment of unstable, shaken mentality, she couldn't stop herself from voicing it. "I... I want to... I WANT TO SEE THE SHOOTING STARS WIH MIKU!" She bellowed at him, giving SHADOW a gaze so determined yet so torn at the same time that he didn't even need to hear whatever she wanted to say next.

**"Then why not go to her? Would you like it if I took your place in this mission?"**

"?!"

**"Hibiki Tachibana... there is still much room for you to grow before you can step fully into the world of the Symphogears… however, it is alright if you want to enjoy your own life as well. There is nothing wrong with that. Should you wish it... I will take your place, then I'll make contact with your superiors. And afterwards... the next time we meet, we shall 'talk' as equals."**

…

…

…

… Did he just ay what she thought he said?

Hibiki for a second thought that she had misheard him, but a look into SHADOW's gaze told her otherwise, He said that he would... let her go to the shooting stars with Miku and he would do the mission requested of her FOR her. At one point she wondered why he would do such a thing for someone like her whom he didn't even know, however that part soon few out the window when she realized that this could be her chance, her chance to keep her promise to her best friend AND help Division 2 all the while, If she accepted, not only would she be able to make it up to her friend, but she would also allow her superiors a chance to make contact with someone whom had been on their radar for quite some time. She DID wonder what he meant by that last part, but honestly she didn't think too much on it since the other stuff weighed much deeper on her mind. "... Y-You mean it?"

**"Indeed."**

"Then..."

…

…

…

…

…

HUG!

SHADOW could NOT have been prepared for the sudden and abrupt hug that could have crushed a normal person's spine that Hibiki launched at him. Her arms wrapped around his back tightly whilst her face buried itself in her chest, a loud squeal of happiness mixed with the feeling of tears following suit. SHADOW gaped at this turn of events, but it didn't seem like the girl had finished yet. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouhankyouthankyou! Thank you so much!" she exclaimed, wailing all the while as she unleashed the pent up stress and anxieties that had been built up in her chest this whole time. She might get scolded for these terms of events, but if anyone asked, Hibiki would say that she just wanted to make her friend happy... though she wouldn't' say just how utterly thankful Hibiki felt towards SHADOW for doing this, whatever his reasons had been.

For now, this would be the best thing she could do.

A few moments later, she quickly broke the hug, her face redder than a cherry as she flailed her arms about, realizing what she had just did only for SHADOW to shake his head, a wry smirk on his lips which... Hibiki couldn't hep but think she had seen before. Nevertheless, with a simple hand gesture, SHADOW directed his intent for Hibiki to leave, something which she promptly did so by dashing off faster than an Olympic athlete, such was the happiness and excitement fuelling her desire to spend the night with her cherished friend.

* * *

Watching her go, SHADOW's lips curved upwards slightly as he smirked to himself, his crimson gaze reflecting a calm candle-light kind of flame within them whilst Hibiki's form finally vanished from his sight. 'There... she is gone...' He thought, and then glanced down at her Phone which she had left behind. Well, she probably wanted to get back to her friend as soon as possible to tell her the good news, so he didn't blame her. Still, he had to chuckle in amusement at how easy it was for her to forget these things, 'Seems so much like what happened when we first met all those years ago...' he thought in nostalgia, before his gaze hardened and his stoic demeanour returned. 'This is it, no turning back now...'

**[Are you sure about this? We could be walking right into the lion's den with those dirty adults in Division 2 for all we know. I am aware of your nigh devotion towards that girl, and you've explained why, however the risks are still there...]**

'True the risks are still present, and in any other circumstance I wouldn't have done this at all. However, aside from that there are also some things I want to look into and I would only be able to do them if I contact her superiors. You recall what I mentioned to you earlier about the third party?'

**[Indeed... ah, I see. You're thinking that there may possibly be an inside mole helping this party along, then. In that case, it makes more sense. Though do not expect me to be cordial with them until I have judged them for myself... which likely will not be a pretty result.]**

Shadow nodded his head in understanding as he held the Phone and figured out how to get into Hibiki's contact history, which didn't take him very long to do so. 'Got it, partner. In any case, we now have a new task ahead of us... and call me crazy, but its actually starting to look exciting for me.' he thought, his eyes dancing with a brilliant flame as he twisted on his boots, his free hand in his pocket as he strode down into the subway. SHADOW could already see some of the Noise coming up to the surface, but he showed no interest in acknowledging their existence and just kept his stride. TAP-TAP-TAP, his boots went as they stepped onto the marble staircase as he descended downwards and finally picked up the contact which he had been looking for...

All the while Black Flames erupted all around him, forming a protective circle as they began to spread down the Subway, incinerating any and every Noise which came into contact with them.

For a brief instance, the male hesitated, memories of his past encounters with adults in high positions of power, not to mention authority figures, flowed through his brain. They caused him to slow his stride slightly, but not stop it since he didn't let them do so. SHADOW didn't need to talk to his partner to sense what it had been feeling right now, knowing their experiences with such figures and how they turned out. Both of them SO wanted to not have to do this, wishing from deep within their beings that there had been alternative solutions to their current problems, however reality wasn't so nice to people like them. In the eyes of society, they were lesser than dirt, not worth mentioning let alone helping out. To society, only those in positions of power, the privileged, had any true meaningful importance, and if they were to choose then those people would be protected whilst everyone else got put on the wayside. Society could truly be an ugly little thing, more so than the ugliest stain or the most vile of smells, making people want to vomit until they died just so they could escape its nasty grip on them.

However, the words of someone he remained close to eve though they weren't... with him anymore, reminded hi exactly of why he still lived this long. Of why he had continued when they could not:

* * *

**(Flashback)**

* * *

**"Listen... in real life, not just one field, in anything in general... there ain't no KO's, there's no such... thing. No, those who are knocked down... aren't the losers... its the ones who can't... get back up... who are the true losers... so go, bro... go out there and make a name... for yourself... make sure... that people will not put you down... and if you fall... rebound back at them! Carve your... own path... use whatever means you see fit... only then will... life truly have any meaning..."**

* * *

**(Flashback END) **

Returning to reality, SHADOW shook his head as he glanced over at the Black Flames, staring into them with a mesmerized expression slowly starting to take form to replace his previous facial expression. As he stared at them with the memories of his life since THAT time, his mouth slowly opened as he subconsciously... began to sing:

_I won't just survive_  
_Oh, you will see me thrive_  
_Can't write my story_  
_I'm beyond the archetype_  
_I won't just conform_  
_No matter how you shake my core_  
_'Cause my roots, they run deep_  
_Oh Oh Oh_

_Oh ye of so little faith_  
_Don't doubt it_  
_Don't doubt it_  
_Victory is in my veins_  
_I know it_  
_I know it_  
_And I will not negotiate_  
_I'll fight it_  
_I'll fight it_  
_I will transform_  
_I will transform_

_When the fire's_  
_At my feet again_  
_And the vultures, all start circling, circling_  
_They're whispering, whispering_  
_You're out of time_  
_But, still I rise_  
_This is no mistake_  
_No accident_  
_When you think the final_  
_Nail is in_  
_Nail is in_  
_Think again_  
_Think again_  
_Don't be suprised_  
_I will still rise_

_I must stay conscious_  
_Through the madness and chaos_  
_So, I call on my angels_  
_They say..._

_Oh ye of so little faith_  
_Don't doubt it_  
_Don't doubt it_  
_Victory is in your veins_  
_You know it_  
_You know it_  
_And you will not negotiate_  
_Just fight it_  
_Just fight it_  
_And be transformed_  
_And be transformed_

_'Cause when, when the fire's_  
_At my feet again_  
_And the vultures all start circling, circling_  
_They're whispering, whispering_  
_You're out of time_  
_But, still I rise_  
_This is no mistake_  
_No accident_  
_When you think the final_  
_Nail is in_  
_Nail is in_  
_Think again_  
_Think again_  
_Don't be suprised_  
_I will still rise_

_Don't doubt it_  
_Don't doubt it_  
_Oh Oh Oh_

_You know it_  
_You know it_  
_Oh Oh Oh_  
_Just fight it_  
_Just fight it_  
_Oh Oh Oh_  
_Don't be suprised_  
_I will still rise_

By the time the song finished, SHADOW blinked, almost as if he had just escaped a trance. "Huh... that was weird, why did I... well, no matter, at least I was alone so nobody heard me sing. That would not have bode well for me." he mumbled discreetly, before proceeding to press the call button for the likely number of Hibiki's superiors, putting the phone to his ear too. A few seconds of ringing happened before the call connected, and SHADOW got greeted with the masculine voice of whom he assumed to be the commander or something. "Tachibana, the Noise are getting restless down there, you must hurry! They might start-"

**"Am I right to assume that you are the superior whom Tachibana listens to?"**

"...?! Who are you?! Where is-?!"

**"I'll cut straight to it. You may know me by the codename you designated me as, I'm the one you've been looking for since the last few years."**

"... SHADOW? Why are you in possession of Hibiki's communicator...?"

**"Lets just say she's going to be spending some recovery time with her friend, and in return I will be taking her place. I'll be eliminating the Noise here, and afterwards… expect some direct contact from me soon. Its time we talk, face to face."**

"Very well... I'll look forward to meeting you face to face, however be warned our reinforcements are already inbound. They'll be there soon so please hold out until then."

**"Got it."**

With that, SHADOW hung up the Phone and pocketed it, switching it to silent beforehand as he didn't want any distractions from Miku if she tried calling Hibiki right now. Only when he did this, did the black dressed male notice that he had reached the bottom of the subway and had stopped next to a rail platform. Glancing to the side, SHADOW noticed some pink coloured Noise, ones covering what looked like a badly burned animal/human Hybrid with a set of tree extensions growing out its back. 'I must have burned the rest to nothingness whilst I was in the call... oops.' he thought, mentally smirking as he wasn't really bothered by this phenomenon. To him, the Noise weren't even a threat anymore, not when he was like this. Making sure his hands became unpocketed, SHADOW threw both arms aside, Black Flames erupting from his palms to form both Donner and Schlag. He then twirled them by their triggers around his index fingers before pointing them at the incoming Noise, his eyes sharpening like an eagle's when they had cornered their prey.

**"Sorry to intrude, house keeping services are here."**


	8. Chapter 8 - Epic Showdown

**Chapter 8 – Epic Showdown**

BANG-BANG-BANG!

Bullets made from Black Flames roared to life like vicious, unrelenting lions as they sailed through the air, impacting their targets with military precision that could only have come through years' worth of training. Their targets mainly being the many Noise surrounding their shooter, whom remained encircled by his own Flames as he fired the rounds out at all directions almost as if he were performing his own gun dance. Countless shrieks, howls and cries escaped from the varying Noise as they struggled to resist against the ruthless barrage the bullets came in the form of to rip into them without mercy nor remorse, each one whom got hit being rapidly devoured by Black Flames. Their shooter, the black dressed SHADOW, mentally remarked to himself at how many Noise there were in this place, since he'd been sure he'd incinerated the lot of them up on the Subway's upper floors. Guess that either there were way more than he had originally realized, or that they were being spawned in somehow likely by some larger Noise somewhere… of course, this didn't matter to him, since SHADOW kept blowing them away with Donner and Schlag, with everywhere he looked being filled with bullets fired from his trusty pistols. This resulted in him rapidly clearing the subway of enemies, whom could not even touch him although he wondered if it would be a good idea to switch tactics soon.

'Donner and Schlag may not use as much as my other ranged weapons do due to them being smaller, but just like how a pile of pebbles may be massive unlike their individual parts, if enough of those parts are taken away it can hardly be called a pile anymore…' the hooded teen thought as he aimed at a small tadpole shaped Noise and fired a single round, one which penetrated both it as well as the ones behind it before they could move to attack him. More jumped at him from above, shooting down towards him in their streak forms only for SHADOW to have the Black Flames beneath him form spikes which impaled them, devouring those Noise without them being able to fight back. Those spikes then slid themselves back to where they came from, allowing him to resume his default gunslinger-like fighting style. Glancing behind him, SHADOW noticed a couple humanoid Noise charging at him from behind, intending to grab and restrain him, so he aimed his dual Guns beneath each armpit, crossing his arms in front to do so, and shot them without looking back… and scoring multiple headshots at the same time.

His Flame Circle then shifted as if to warn him, and SHADOW quickly erected a circular wall around himself using it as a base, allowing a barrage of Noise attacks to be burned away without inflicting him harm. When SHADOW made to lower it, his eyes slightly widened by a very small margin, when he saw a couple Noise having jumped OVER the Flames with the intent to body slam onto him. Quickly reacting, the hooded male sidestepped to avoid them, twirling around and ending up pointing the barrels of his Guns down at the backs of their heads before blowing them into destroyed pieces, then he jumped into the air to avoid a series of Noise leaping at him from all directions, the flames he'd surrounded himself vanishing all the while as he angled himself upside down. In this position, SHADOW pointed his Guns downwards and twirled himself around in a constant 360-degree spin, raining quite literally a bullet hell on the creatures. By the time that he landed, the hooded male got into a prone position to avoid a cross smack by a Noise, tripped it up with his right leg to knock it into the air and off balance, before using the momentum to position himself into a crouch and slam Donner into its side, pulling the trigger to blow it to nothingness as he did the same to several other advancing Noise from his rear left flank.

Occasionally SHADOW glanced at his twin weapons, mentally noting on why he had created so many weapon variants to replace them in the first place as he dealt with whole groups of Noise at a time. It was to do with the powers that he wielded thanks to his… past circumstances. The way his powers worked was not like that of a Symphogear whose powers seemingly relied on the singing ability that their wielders had. No, his powers could hardly be described as anything like that, but with how they DID work resembled somewhat of the typical Shonen power system. It had something similar to an 'energy pool' like 'Chakra' from Naruto or 'Spirit Energy' from Bleach, and that pool turned out to be the power source for his abilities. Kind of like a fuel or power source in a sense which could run out potentially. In SHADOW's case, his 'fuel source' had quite the size going for it, but as a price to it, his powers tend to drain that fuel source rather quickly. Training and refining can help offset this weakness though, as through the years he's had these abilities SHADOW had noticed the lessening drain on his fuel supply, but he didn't let that stop him from continuing to train/experiment with his abilities. Since he was… still relatively 'new' in some ways to this, and due to the stage, he was at, there was MUCH that he had yet to fully grasp about his abilities… though, fighting in real battles against the Noise DEFINITELY helped him grow as a fighter. Life or death struggles was the ultimate means of survival, if anyone asked SHADOW.

Just as he thought of switching to a more close combat oriented weapon due to the lessening number of Noise, SHADOW noticed one of them, the same pink tree-like Noise from earlier, launching several of its 'orbs' at the ceiling above them, creating a massive explosion which covered the entire subway section, forcing SHADOW to cover his face whilst the remainder of the Noise got slammed into the walls of the subway. By the time that the smoke vanished allowing him to see again, the hooded teen looked up to see the pink Noise (which had exerted all its 'ammo' with this stunt) rapidly climbing up a large chute, one which it likely had made to escape the subway and out into the schoolyard up above them. 'I see… so its trying to find an open space to get away, huh?' SHADOW thought, narrowing his crimson eyes as he idly shot the remaining Noise in the Subway itself, all before dismissing the two guns Donner and Schlag.

**[If it gets outside, odds are it will see this as a chance to reach the city and start chaos there… best ascend quickly.]**

'Yeah, that'll be annoying to deal with…'

With that, SHADOW tapped the toes of his right boot onto the ground beneath him, and both then became literal rocket thrusters with flames shooting out of their souls, similar ones coming out of the palms of his hands whilst flames covered his entire form, concealing it from view. As a result, SHADOW took flight up the shoot as a streak of Black Flame, quickly ascending upwards to give chase to the Noise.

It didn't take him long to arrive at the top of the chute. As he shot through the air like a rising meteor, he then curved around and slammed into an empty section of the yard, disengaging his flames in their entirety and flipping forwards to land on the ground in a crouch. SHADOW heard the soft THUD that came from said landing with his body in the previously mentioned position, one hand on the soft grass beneath his boots. Looking up as he got to his feet, the hooded male narrowed his slitted crimson eyes at the… rather EXTENSIVE army of Noise which greeted him, there being all SORTS of different ones there like the tadpole and humanoid ones, ones with pink to reddish leaves coming out their backs, and even a few larger ones which had an aerial flock surrounding their heads. His glove covered hands twitched quite visibly whilst flames slowly seeped out of his palms. 'More Noise, huh? Guess that thing spawned them whilst I got up here… gotta admit, that's actually rather impressive given how little time it took for me to get up here. With those large ones more will keep spawning whilst those aerial ones will either be pests or keep me away from them... Whelp, no matter. Looks like I have some more exterminating to do. Might want to finish this quick though since I'd rather not be here when Division 2's reinforcements arrive…' He thought.

By this point, the flames had finished transmuting themselves into their solid metallic forms, following his will to manifest as the weapons he so desired. In the end, they formed into two identical looking European-style Longswords, having cruciform hilts with grips originally meant for two-handed use (he held one in each hand easily enough), and straight, double edged blades the width of human hands. Like every weapon SHADOW has ever created in his life, the Longswords had black colour scheme, red jewels placed in the centre of their cross guards whilst two names were drawn in bloody crimson letters along each Longsword's blade: Vertrauen (Confidence) and Stolz (Pride). Both Longswords released an audible hum, resembling sentience somewhat as they radiated a crimson glow about them, matching coloured steam rising from their back edges as if they were about to spontaneously combust. Meanwhile, SHADOW himself leaned forwards, already picking up his first target from the charging hoard of Noise. He held his arms out to his sides like he were T-Posing, his Longswords aimed downwards…

All before breaking into a mad sprint.

Well, sprint might not have been the right word for it since he'd mimicked a move, he had seen Bakugo from My Hero Academiya use often but with his feet instead of his hands. He didn't really like either, true enough, but the trick seemed interesting nonetheless and it should be possible for him to apply it to himself. The trick was based on mastering two apparently simple things: storage and release. If he can properly store the power of the flames before releasing them in a burst, he could theoretically deal stronger blows and use his time better. But the more relevant part would be in the release and how to do so. As such, from his feet, several explosive bursts of Black Flames had erupted, propelling him forwards like a speeding bullet train as he slammed into the Noise hoard, knocking a substantial amount of them down doing so. SHADOW capitalized on the opportunity as soon as his senses returned to him, gripping his twin Longswords and twisting around a full 360 degrees. Launching a matching GETSUGA TENSHO throughout his surroundings and eliminating a large portion of the Noise. Although that didn't seem like much when the male noticed that the Noise still surrounded him, with one of the larger ones, one which had the same size as the snail like one which spawned their comrades, swung its right crab claw down at him as if to smack him. SHADOW responded in the following after he'd twisted into the air like a spinning sausage, facing the approaching claw: **"Breath of the Beast, second fang: RIP AND TEAR!"** only after proclaiming that, did the male do a double X-shaped slash with his two blades in both diagonal angles, slicing the claw off the Noise's body.

Using the position to his advantage, SHADOW flipped backwards and landed, before jumping upwards with a few explosive bursts from his feet, shooting straight towards the handless Noise's face. **"Breath of the Beast, first fang: PIERCE AND EXTRACT!" **With his Longswords thrusting forwards, SHADOW plunged them both into the target where the neck should have been, allowing his Flames to erupt from within the large beast and devour it. Only when the beast was gone, did he notice several flying Noise coming down at him like flying spears, obviously intending to turn him into one of the victims of Vlad the Impaler… not like the male would let them though. Instead, he simply waited till 2 of the approaching 4 were close enough, before raising both Longswords with his hands holding them in the reverse grip and stabbing them into the backs of 2 Aerial Noise. He then used them as a means to flip forwards onto their backs, tearing the swords out and jumping off the rapidly disintegrating Noise and flying straight into their brethren, slicing both of them in half within one single second. He then shot himself away from the air space before any more attacks could be thrown his way by kicking to his right, launching an explosive blast that propelled him away from his opponents and making him land before them instead, sliding across the ground to a halt.

Set in position, SHADOW then proceeded to continue his offensive as he darted to the closest Noise, that one being one which could be classed as a 'merged type'. The creature tried to attack him by launching its rapidly rotating metallic leaves, but the hooded male easily deflected them with his Longswords before hurling Stolz at its face, as he did so black flames erupted and consumed this Noise as well as several others behind it. Not that SHADOW had any time to think about this since other Noise attacked him from above by a 'kamikaze' attack. Grabbing Stolz, SHADOW had to avoid the enemies quickly as they kept descending at him from all sides. Unfortunately, the enemy Noise didn't stop, if anything it increased in size when a few of the Snail-shaped Noise released at least 50 Noise each, with more being produced, all trying to attack him. SHADOW mentally frowned at this, since the thing that bothered the male regarding his fighting these Noise, the fight either ended quickly or depended on an attraction battle that… wasn't really something the male looked forward to. He didn't quite have unlimited energy after all and speaking of which a quick check showed him that he had nearly reached the 50% threshold of what he could presently use.

**[Perhaps a large area attack with enough power to reach the 50% will suffice. I would suggest bringing out your Daito for one big GETSUGA TENSHO, or you could pull something else…]**

SHADOW all of a sudden heard some advice come from his partner, something which caused him to pause his rapid movement for a moment and then think… though it only lasted a brief second before he was on the move again using the explosive blast trick. He had to admit, it was much faster than running and while controlling the speed was not exactly easy, he could at least travel much faster this way. It didn't beat his hand and feet thrusters in his eyes, but nevertheless it remained a decent way of avoiding direct damage. Still, his thoughts revolved around the advice his partner gave him, ideas and possible battle plans forming inside his mind at a rapid rate. 'Hmmm… yeah, that could be interesting, I could potentially create something meant for large-scale ordinance or heavy-duty barrages, that'd thin the herd a bit. Or I could pull out Schlagen and head shot the larger Noise and stop their numbers from rising further… although I'd have to be wary of their aerial support since they'd likely try to keep me from getting a clear shot.'

Whelp, time for him to get started, even if he wold likely be reduced significantly in power by the end of this fight.

**(Zetto Ame No Habakiri Plays)**

However, upon preparing himself to launch another offensive, SHADOW blinked when he heard the sound of something sharp cutting through the air, so he looked up and saw hundreds of blades coming down from the sky. Each of them had a futuristic feel to them, not to mention that they varied in size with a few being enough to stab through entire skyscrapers. However, upon seeing them SHADOW felt his teeth clench as his eyes lit up with flames of fury and annoyance, otherwise his expression remained as stoic as all hell. 'Great, those guys just HAD to send in their most troubling operative as reinforcements…'

Yeah, needless to say that after everything that had happened since a month ago, SHADOW wasn't really a big fan of Tsubasa, not by a long shot. Not waiting two seconds before Tsubasa could close in on the battlefield, the hooded male twisted on his heels and launched a quick explosive blast, allowing him to shoot through the air and down into the chute, a place where he could see the situation without being seen if at all possible, by gripping onto its ledge and hanging there. Since SHADOW knew that the one coming was Tsubasa, he didn't want to meet her here as she could potentially be unstable in the mind right now, not exactly helpful in a fight. Furthermore, if she saw him here (SHADOW wasn't certain that Hibiki's superiors had told her about his presence yet), then he didn't doubt she would try to attack him especially due to the humiliation inflicted upon her, it'd even be possible that she'd ignore the rest of the Noise in her reddened fury. Whilst SHADOW would have preferred to put her down permanently like the rabid 'dog' she had become, not only would that sadden Hibiki, but SHADOW knew for a FACT that killing her would only make things worse for not just his end, but on the battling Noise front. After all, he wasn't completely on that battlefield like she or Hibiki were.

**[Hmph, lets observe the subject for a bit, shall we? I still think she is beyond help, though…]**

SHADOW mentally rolled his eyes at his companion's words, though he didn't necessarily refute him since part of him thought something similar. Soon, he saw how Tsubasa had landed, already proceeding to sing as she tore away at the remainder of the Noise, showing just how long she had done this. To see her in action like this, from a front row seat like the one he currently occupied, SHADOW felt reminded of that day 2 years ago, of the time when he had been so helpless that he could have only watched as her and… that one redhead woman several years her senior duke it out with the Noise themselves. 'Now that I think about it… what happened to that woman?' the hooded male wondered, a thoughtful frown forming on his lips.

Whilst he thought about this, SHADOW then noticed that Tsubasa had finally finished dealing with the Noise, as she now stood within the middle of a rather significant amount of carbonized piles surrounding her as she stared at the ground beneath her feet, her Symphogear's vents opening up to release the excess steam. Looked like he had lost himself to his thoughts for a moment there, he realized, but SHADOW didn't come out to face her just yet. Some of the reasons had been the ones he'd stated earlier in his monologuing, but another one was due to the… new arrival whom had just entered the scene, someone whom then proudly borderline arrogantly announced her presence loudly.

"Hah, so THAT's the one whose been batting up all those Noise, huh? Hardly impressed over here…!"

Both his and Tsubasa's eyes widened when they glanced towards the direction the voice came from, allowing them to see a feminine figure, a young woman at least a year Tsubasa's junior, steadily approaching them from the shadows of the forest till she stood about 10 feet away from the latter, arms hanging from her side yet an aura of profound strength emitting from her in large waves. She seemed to be clad in a silver armour, one which covered most of her body save for her face and the undersides of her breasts, something which SHADOW felt his brow twitch visibly as a tick mark formed on his forehead. 'Why the hell do these armours tend to expose so much of the female's user to the world? Did whoever make these things have some sort of kink or something?' he couldn't help but wonder as a wave of irritation travelled down his spine. Still, SHADOW did take note of the large and circular shoulder pads which had 2 long, purple Whips which looked to be made of some crystalline material, something he figured served as her primary means of attack in battle. 'Potential mid-range to long range user, huh? Tsubasa might have her work cut out for her…'

A brief talk between the two ensued, something which surprised him since SHADOW had assumed Tsubasa to be like a robot or a dog at this point given her demeanour, which revealed to him the name of this so-called Armour, the Nehushtan Armour, something which according to Tsubasa had been 'stolen' from 'them' (he assumed she meant herself and her superiors), to which she'd commented on how cruelly ironic that both the armour AND the Gungnir had showed up in her life again. 'Hmph, looks like she still hasn't gotten over herself, more like she's repressed whatever her issue is under her 'façade' once again.' SHADOW thought, sighing in disappointment though there was some of it aimed at himself for hoping for anything else.

**[From my limited understanding of you humans, you always seem to make things more complicated than you need it to be. You all like to think yourself smart, when in reality you're just a bunch of dumb apes who believe anything they are told, a bunch of 'mobs' in essence. You humans are creatures beyond my understanding.]**

'Yeah, you're not wrong there, partner.' The hooded male responded through the mental link he had to his companion, before looking back at the two girls whom seem to have begun radiating killing intent towards one another, making him figure that there would be a brawl coming for them soon enough. In the end, like SHADOW had anticipated since the beginning, the talk didn't last long as both girls begun to fight against one another with Tsubasa opening up the first attack. She had started with her Katana morphing into its Greatsword form to launch a BLUE FLASH at the Armoured girl, and when he saw how she used those chain-like crystalline whips to block it then slice it in two, all before slamming both down to stop a follow-up strike from the blunette, SHADOW quickly realized the skill behind this potential adversary. He meant POTENTIAL since well, he hadn't much of a clue on her full specs not to mention that he wasn't sure if a so-called 'complete relic' would be able to hold a candle to what SHADOW himself used. Not only that, but there may be a reason why she was here, well, more like he knew that she WAS here for a reason, and it was to do with the 'third party' which made him assume that she was with them, as otherwise she likely wouldn't have showed up.

Still… this battle definitely showed him that there were even more things wrong with Tsubasa than he had originally anticipated.

The fight went on with the two girls trading blows for blows in rapid succession, moving throughout the entire schoolyard like two humanoid natural disasters since everywhere they went, destruction got left behind in their wake. Tsubasa's blades kept getting summoned and launched towards her adversary who'd block, parry or deflect them with her Whips which, to Tsubasa's surprise and chagrin, seemed to hold the ability to extend themselves beyond their default range, something which the observing SHADOW noticed didn't seem to have much of a limit since it easily cleared about 30 meters of distance without much trouble or signs of slowing down. Furthermore, both he and Tsubasa soon became witness to a large, futuristic-looking staff-like object in the girl's possession, one which sported one tall purple crystal and a single green jewel which, upon the girl's will, stunned them by shooting out green beams which, upon hitting the ground, manifested into groups of Noise themselves. This ended up confirming to the two that there was indeed a means to control them as well as that the Girl had either been the perpetrator of the many Noise outbreaks the last month or had some connection to it. As if the blunette needed any other reason to bring the girl in for questioning before.

Meanwhile… something quickly became clear to SHADOW.

'Shit… looks like I'm not the only one who can hack away at that sword…'

Throughout the battle, SHADOW merely watched from his hiding place, not interfering despite the desire to test himself against a weapon like the Nehushtan Armour. However, that desire hadn't lasted long since it quickly become clear to him, that out of the two battling warriors, it seemed that the whip using girl had been gaining the upper hand, what with those Whips being able to launch powerful energy blasts from themselves alongside their seemingly rapid extendibility, which combined with their user's ability with them resulted in Tsubasa being forced further and further into a tight spot, something which he did NOT like to see. Hey, he may not be too fond of the girl, but even someone like him didn't like seeing her getting smacked down like this, if anything he would rather like to see Tsubasa get her act together and move on with her life, sure she may have had something bad happen to her, but its not like she's the only one affected by traumatic experiences, a lot of people were, so she wasn't really that special in that regard. Still, despite the seemingly increasing odds stacked against her, SHADOW did give credit where credit was due, and that would be whenever Tsubasa managed to knock her opponent back on occasion during her cornering, since it reminded him somewhat of a cornered animal making some risky yet calculated strikes against its overwhelming opponents, its great determination the foundation for its exponentially increased danger level. A cornered predator was when it would be seen as its most dangerous, after all since there was no telling how far it'd go to survive the situation it had been thrown into.

**(OST ends)**

Finally, one strike from the girl in the Nehushtan Armour slammed into Tsubasa in the gut, causing her to gasp as she got sent flying across the almost war-like battlefield, landing and rolling across the grassy land until she came to a stop on her right side, sprawling out as if she were prostrating herself before her opponent whom slowly walked towards her with a sinister aura of bloodlust radiating from her being. Her whips had retracted to their original length, and currently dragged themselves behind her as she soon stopped upon reaching 10 meters from the fallen sword user. "Y'know, that was a SOMEWHAT decent fight, I guess… though what I was REALLY here for was that Gungnir user, but I guess she isn't here…" The girl commented, shrugging her shoulders as she somehow strapped the staff-like object onto her waist. "Though I'd rather not be a liar, so I'll take those words back and just call you a broken loser instead, that seems much more fitting to describe you now, a rusty, crooked and busted sword which is one step away from being thrown away like a useless sack of garbage."

'…Ouch, rough… but not exactly wrong.' SHADOW admitted, tilting his head whilst holding back a wince. 'I always call her a dulled blade myself, cause that's how I've seen her since her issues have made her sword boring and dull. However, she just goes all in without any mercy… for some reason. I kind of get the feeling that tongue of hers is familiar to me, like I've heard of it before.' He wondered after a short time, especially after a wave of irritation flowed down his spine in a manner similar to how it had been once before… though for the life of him SHADOW didn't recall where he had heard it. Briefly, a fuzzy memory of a train journey entered his mind, but that became all he'd gotten thanks to suddenly hearing Tsubasa's response.

"… You're right. You and… him… I am indeed a broken sword…"

**"?!"**

"Haaaaahhh…?"

Both SHADOW and the mystery girl aimed their gaze, one surprised and one mockingly arrogant, at the downed blunette who had her hands clutching the dirt beneath them, struggling to push herself upwards and biting through the white-hot pain that followed. "I've trained my body to become a sword… and on that day… I survived anyways." Tsubasa whispered beneath her breath with her hair shadowing her eyes, although both of them heard it as she slowly began to rise to her feet, grabbing her Katana to stab it into the ground as a means of support. The way she trembled though, it implied that it came from more than just her weakened state, but her sheer emotions as well, the shame, anger and humiliation in her words felt as rich as fires were hot as she kneeled before her weapon like a knight or a Samurai. "I shamed myself as a broken sword… BUT!" Gradually, she managed to get back onto her feet, keeping her head low so her expression didn't get shown to them all. Even so, her words continued to flow out of her mouth as if she had been dying for a chance to see them all this time. "That ends today… if I can take back the Nehushtan… then I can restore my honour."

In the end, Tsubasa managed to get herself back into a combat stance, although her form occasionally trembled and shook a bit. However, SHADOW noticed the lack of fear on the girl's face, in fact it looked like her ridiculing expression just got strengthened by the so-called 'futile' attempt at bravado in her eyes. "Hah, that's cute, thinking you can take this from me. Let's see you try, you fool-!" she proclaimed, making to charge forwards and utterly wreck Tsubasa to finish her off, wiping off that look on her face to reduce it to one of despair. However, that didn't happen, in fact the girl suddenly found herself unable to move one bit, not even the tiniest of muscles, much to her shock. "Wh-Wha?!" she exclaimed, stunned as she tried to move only to fail epically. She still struggled, barely managing to glance around to see what could be holding her place… only to notice a single blade, no more like a dagger, impaling the ground behind her or to be more specific her shadow area. 'No way, she freaking paralyzed me! When the heck did, she manage to-?!' she tried to think, before turning back to the trembling Tsubasa. Something then clicked in her mind when she began to sense something off with the blunette idol, something which sparked a strong sense of dread and fear especially when she saw the gaze being directed at her. "You've gotta be kidding me… you're really…?!"

"I'll finish this… whilst the moon is still out…"

'She's… she's going to do the same thing as that redhead woman did back then, isn't she?' SHADOW suddenly thought as he came to the same conclusion as the mystery girl did, his features becoming tense as a spark of anger and frustration ignited in his chest. Not something he wasn't unused to when it concerned someone like Tsubasa, but seeing what she was about to do, already having pointed her Katana in preparation for her final play in this battle, it all made SHADOW quickly make a choice in his mind: reveal himself and stop this, or just let it play out and have a repeat of what had happened 2 years ago, this time with him just staying hidden like a pathetic coward and doing nothing. Stay hidden or help out at the risk of her attacking him…? Well, he could DEFINITELY say this would be some of the easier decisions he'd had to make in his lifetime!

**[Better make it quick, partner! The stupid brat's body may not be able to handle this much energy output!]**

As if the hooded male needed any other incentive to do this from anyone, least of all his companion. Gripping the spots of the chute that he had used as an anchorage, SHADOW flipped himself over the hole and landed in a crouch, his coattails fluttering downwards from being lifted by the forces acting on said clothing. SHADOW then looked towards the two, having seen Tsubasa already in the middle of her little 'song'. At first the mystery girl had tried to use that object of hers to summon some Noise reinforcements, but sadly she seemed to have lost a lot of her composure from earlier, since they got summoned too far for them to be of any use to her. Not that he cared since they didn't get in the way of his following shot. Throwing his right hand to the side, SHADOW manifested Schlagen within it, gripping its trigger as he aimed towards the remaining space between the two girls. Closing one eye, the hooded teen aimed down the top of the Barrel, lining up his shot so that it would only cause a shockwave to blow Tsubasa and the mystery girl away from one another, as well as cancel out that damned song. 'Tsubasa, you stupid idiot! Stop throwing your damn life away like this!' he screamed in his mind, Schlagen crackling dangerously with black and red energy along its barrel. 'C'mon, charge, charge already! We gotta do this fast, or else-!'

FWIP-BOOOOM!

Just a second before Schlagen could fire and before Taubasa finished her Song as she found herself at last 10 steps away from her adversary, everyone suddenly became BLINDSIDED when all of a sudden something SMASHED down onto the ground from above, almost as if the gods themselves were smiting this entire battlefield to deny the brave warrior of the Valkyries their chance to ascend into the halls of Valhalla. The resulting impact caused the entire battlefield to shake and tremble like it had been hit by a megaton earthquake, with the summoned Noise being destroyed by the resulting Shockwave, Tsubasa being sent flying away to the ground from where she had once stood before but now unconscious from her attempted Song, and the mystery girl falling flat on her ass whilst SHADOW remained the sole person still standing (mostly thanks to him quickly disengaging his Schlagen and manifesting his Shield with his free arm to absorb the Shockwave) on his side. His eyes shot open wide behind his defence, his coat flapping dangerously with the winds the shockwave generated. 'Holy hell, what the fuck?! Who'd come here so quick that they'd catch even ME off guard?!' the hooded teen mentally exclaimed, glancing out from behind his cover to witness whom had entered the scene. At first, he couldn't see who it had been, but it didn't take long for the cause to disperse the smoke with a swing of a long, polearm-like weapon.

This ended up revealing himself as Sun, as in THE Golden Sun according to what SHADOW knew of the guy, he didn't keep much track of him due to having more important matters to deal with… however he HAD to pay some attention to him now as, much like Tsubasa, he donned an outfit SHADOW hadn't seen before.

He looked to be decked out in a primarily golden outfit (kind of helped SHADOW disconcert his identity aside from his looks). On top of his head, one could see a golden circlet which went completely around it, shining brightly in the moonlight. His upper body sported a full body skin tight cloth suit, exposing a physique which looked to be rather bulky yet still held a sense of being streamlined, a sign of intense martial arts training. His left arm looked to be encased in a pure, golden shoulder pauldron which had a brown belt with a golden which wrapped itself diagonally around his torso. His left forearm got concealed by a golden forearm guard which reached his elbow, whilst both his forearms and hands had dark blue bandages wrapping around them to only expose his fingers. For his lower body, Sun wore a dark blue sash which wrapped around his waist, whilst some crimson baggy pants adorned his legs which ended in bandages wrapping around his shins and feet, exposing his toes. On top of his pants, lay two large golden devilish faces, large enough to cover the top portion of his legs to provide them with protection. On his upper back, there lay attached to it a large blackish coloured cloud which crackled with golden lightning, whilst strapped to the side of his waist was a single pale golden coloured Gourd which had a wooden cork sealing it. Finally, for his seemingly main weapon, SHADOW noted the double ended staff which had its ends shaped like enlarged, spiked golden cudgels.

In essence, Sun definitely gave him a sort of… monkeyish feel to him.

However, it seemed that SHADOW's entry hadn't alerted the golden Sun (pun intended) to his presence yet, so he stayed silent and waited, wanting to know what happened next without them noticing him.

Meanwhile, Sun himself furrowed his brows as he gazed upon Tsubasa's fallen form, his eyes shimmering with golden energies as he twirled his Staff in one hand. 'Tch, looks like Division 2 may be catching onto us at this point… not to mention that the target hasn't shown up like our info said she would.' The blonde thought in annoyance, clicking his tongue as he glanced over to his companion who lay on her backside still, staring up at him with a look of surprise on her face. "You alright, Chris? Sorry I didn't get here sooner, some of your Noise were a little… shall we say uncooperative." He remarked with a strained smile, remembering some of the Noise he had to put down since they were going to try and get out into the city without anyone knowing. He didn't let that happen of course, since he didn't want any innocents to be hurt needlessly.

Finally coming out of her shock, the young girl known as Chris, clad in the Nehushtan Armour which thankfully absorbed the blow (although she cringed internally at the pain she felt whilst it regenerated, something which her companion noticed and tried to hide his feelings about it), looked up at him and glared, swatting aside his offered hand as she shakingly got back to her feet. "I'm fine, and I would have been even if you hadn't interfered!" she retorted hotly, scowling as she glared at him with venom. If there was anything, she hated more than singing, it was being treated like a damn damsel in distress, especially since it undermined what she had done to get to the point that she had in her life. It truly sickened her to the core, so she wouldn't let anyone, and she meant ANYONE not even her childhood friend treat her as such.

**[Rejected as usual. You know, I should probably make a counter for all the times you've been rejected, insulted and trodden on by this one, what do you think?]**

In response, Sun sighed as he retracted his hand, having anticipated this reaction from her just like his companion had. Even as said companion ridiculed her via a method which only, he himself could hear, the blonde instead jammed the rear end of his Staff into the ground, stopping Chris from speaking once again. "Yeah well, it was under the boss's orders, turns out that the mission's a bust since Gungnir's wielder isn't here for some reason." He explained, before putting his Staff on his shoulder like a Gangster would with his pipe. His circlet briefly shined a golden colour whilst his Cloud sparked a few times, causing Chris to flinch. Though, Sun just attributed it to him mentioning their 'boss' to her. "She wants you to return to base, debrief you and…" he then gritted his teeth as he looked to the side, though Chris didn't need him to say anything else since she knew EXACTLY what he had meant. She cringed herself, not looking forward to it either, but nonetheless turned to leave the area, doing so soon after by jumping into the air and flying away.

"#SIGH# There she goes… I better head back myself, otherwise she'll be-"

**"Oh, I don't think so."**

"?!"

**[Oh shit, look out, Sun!]**

It happened fast, so fast that to the untrained eye it would seem like it had happened within only a small flash of motion. Even the trained eye would find it difficult to follow what had just happened, as one moment Sun stood calmly and leisurely, preparing to depart from the scene with his childhood friend, however the next thing he knew, someone suddenly broke the small silence he had found as a reprieve and, upon turning to the source, all he saw was a single black leather glove before it latched onto his face in a claw-like manner. A loud gasp escaped his lips as the user of the hand jumped into the air, two streams of black flames erupting from his feet like thrusters before everything around him literally turned into similar flames.

Unbeknownst to the two boys or anyone who'd taken part in this fight, a black car had arrived seconds after Sun had been unceremoniously 'kidnapped' by a certain male, stopping close to Tsubasa's fallen form whom had been left forgotten. Once it had stopped, the car doors quickly snapped open, their occupants stepping out to reveal themselves as Genjuro, Ryouko and a bunch of Division 2 Agents including Shinji himself. "Tsubasa! Are you okay?!" the redhead man exclaimed, jogging over to his fallen subordinate and kneeling beside her for a quick examination. A quick diagnosis showed that she was just unconscious… but damage had been significantly dealt to her by that Song, prompting him to quickly pick her up, bring her into the Car, and drive off to the nearest Division 2 sponsored hospital.

* * *

SHADOW flew like a flaming Meteor through the entirety of Tokyo at high speeds, seemingly breaking through the sound barrier as he dashed towards one of the isolated forest areas outside the City itself. The teen mentally smirked as he remembered how he had literally caught THE Golden Sun off guard, grabbing him by that face of his in a grasp similar to Ichigo from Bleach did to Aizen in the Winter War (Bleach was one of his favourite Anime's, especially its main character Ichigo and some of the others like Chad, whose name and backstory had a lot of similarities to his own friend. Feeling like the MC of Bleach would be another bonus in his eyes), and now had managed to get themselves AWAY from the scene before so that Division 2 could retrieve that idiotic wounded sword. Up above them, the night skies remained as clear as they had been during the day, allowing the moonlight to illuminate the hooded male as he shot through the skies. 'You thinking what I'm thinking, partner?'

**[Heh, fuck yes!]**

A quick convo passed between them as SHADOW felt Sun trying to break free from his hold, so he simply clenched his grip on his face tighter to get him to be still and shut up, burning a portion of his side for good measure with his Flames. Whilst he could carry people like this and wrap his Flames around them to stop them from attacking his passengers, it didn't mean SHADOW couldn't… warn them not to try anything. In the end, SHADOW found a nearby field filled to the brim with beautiful sakura coloured flowers which was located at a decent enough distance, so with that in mind SHADOW shot down towards its centre, rearing his arm back and TOSSING Sun out of his little flame barrier (dismissing it right before doing so) and then cutting his thrusters. As a result, Sun flew across the air and barely managed to right himself in time, landing with a massive BOOM and sliding across the flower field to a halt. All the while the hooded male himself slammed into the ground with a crouch, sliding only a little in comparison before he stood on his feet.

**"So… we finally meet face to face, Golden Sun…" **SHADOW spoke, pocketing his hand in his dark coat, his Coat Tails fluttering down to his legs again from the remnants of his previous motion. His crimson, slitted eyes burned brightly in the night as he glared at the opposing male, whom glared right back with an angry golden glow starting to form around him. No matter, SHADOW didn't feel threatened by him in the slightest, as his own body became shrouded by a sinister crimson aura, energy crackling along his frame which created wind gusts, ruffling his Coattails as he took a step forward, Killing Intent on the rise. **"Didn't expect it to be under these circumstances, but then again nothing EVER goes as planned, now does it?"**

**[This will be an interesting fight, partner. This one… his scent is exactly like the one I smelled when we properly awakened, the scent of a dumb ape king who got fooled by the Gods into thinking they wouldn't screw him over. Whilst his powers are indeed formidable with weather manipulation, shapeshifting and cloning, it is nothing we cannot handle. Show this dumb monkey what it means to cross the path of a DRAGON!]**

'That I intend to, partner, don't worry…'

Meanwhile, Sun himself grimaced to himself as the last of his headache from being grabbed the way he had faded away, letting him see the looming threat approaching him with eyes ablaze like the pits of hell themselves. "Heh, if you're a fan, then this isn't exactly the best way to meet your idol." He retorted with a slight smirk, though it didn't meet his eyes which carried the same level of intensity as SHADOW's did, knowing deep in his being that this will end up in a fight no matter what. Even though he understood this, Sun couldn't help the flames of frustration building inside his chest, alongside the worry of what might happen to his childhood friend if their 'caretaker' had unrestricted access to her. 'Ideally, I'd like to get away from this so I can escort Chris back so the boss doesn't pull anything too drastic with her, but my gut tells me this guy won't be so merciful...' he thought, looking him over and noticing the Black Flames gathering beneath his feet.

**[Sun, do not let those flames touch you without any singing backup, otherwise things may get dangerous. These flames... just looking at them is setting off every alarm in my mind right now.]**

'I know, but its not like we can just escape, now can we?'

Holding his staff out, Sun proceeded to twirl it around in one hand a few times, before firmly grasping its shaft and held it in a horizontal angle, pivoting so that his left side faced his enemy as he locked his gaze with SHADOW's own. "I don't suppose you could tell me who the fuck you are, so I can 'thank' you properly for almost ruining my beautiful face like that." Sun remarked, a slightly loopsided smirk taking the place of his previous expression as his eyes shone with killing intent. He didn't get why himself. but just looking at this foe just served to piss him off like no tomorrow. Perhaps the way that he had 'greeted' him didn't help much and instead just fanned the flames of hatred a bit, but still.

**"Just call me SHADOW." **

With that simple response, SHADOW kicked the dirt behind him, the sole of said foot erupting into flames which created a fiery explosion, propelling him forwards through the air like a speeding bullet. Sun's eyes widened at the sheer speed that he possessed, quickly bringing his Staff up for defence only for SHADOW to flip forwards and slam his right foot in an overhead flaming axe kick. Whilst Sun managed to block it by raising his Staff and holding it by both ends above him, but then SHADOW followed up with a raised left leg, igniting it in flames and using said flames as thrusters to increase the force and speed of his follow kick. If Sun hadn't quickly responded by tapping into the power of his Cloud in time, of which it crackled with violent electrical energy and unleashed a streak of lightning towards the attack, Sun may as well have lost his head from that attack.

Instead however, SHADOW recalled his attack and flipped backwards... although he also managed to pull a fast one by hooking his right foot beneath the Staff and then yank it with a YOINK-like sound effect, tossing it aside a fair distance from its rightful user. 'Oh, shit!' Sun thought as his cloud erupted with wind gusts, ones which spiralled around him and helped him take off like a jet plane towards his Staff. Reaching out for it, Sun nearly managed to retrieve his weapon, had it not been for a sudden blast from the side which slammed into him like a freight train causing him to fly off course, tumbling across the field by bouncing along it multiple times. The cause turned out to be SHADOW, whom had pulled out his right hand and manifested his Schlagen to blindside his opponent.

Several more shots got fired towards Sun's form, to which the golden haired teen grimaced as he swiftly pulled out the Gourd on his waist and pulled off the cork, holding it out towards the approaching rounds. In that moment, as the bullets came closer... the guard's tip started pulling the air itself inside of it like it was a suction machine, taking the rounds inside of it despite their angles not being aligned with it since the suction pulled their angles towards its tip. Once inside, Sun put the cork back on before he flipped himself about, landing on the ground in a crouch before sliding across it a full 6 meters until he grinded to a halt. Looking up, Sun noticed that SHADOW had already closed the distance between them (Schlagen having been dismissed and hand being pocketed again), twisting into a roundhouse kick towards his head at a speed where he wouldn't be able to uncork his Gourd in time. 'Tch!' the teen cursed mentally, the Cloud on his back buzzing to life before it released a wave of Lightning from itself which expanded in all directions, blowing SHADOW backwards.

All of this by the way... took place in just under 5 seconds.

Standing opposite the golden wearing male, the young hooded male remained silent for a moment, glancing to his side where he could see the dude's discarded Staff lying sprawled out on the ground. His gaze then landed towards Sun as he made to say something... only to widen his eyes slightly when Sun had quickly closed the distance between them like SHADOW had done earlier and slammed a foot into his chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying. 'Ugh!' He thought, manifesting a circle of black flames beneath him which grabbed him via some extended Tendril-like constructs, pulling him back to the ground before launching Some streaks towards Sun's position. Said male simply uncorked the Gourd on his waist and absorbed them into it... including the flames forming the circle, much to SHADOW's surprise. A smirk of victory formed on Sun's face when he noticed this. "Heh, my turn, fucker!" he bellowed, holding out his hand towards his Staff like he was reaching to grab it... for the whole thing to tremble when it shot through the air and back into his waiting grasp, the golden haired teen twirling it in one hand like he had done before the fight.

**"Not bad. I'll admit..." **Shadow finally admitted begrudgingly, though his features remained covered by darkness save for his glowing crimson slitted eyes and domino mask. That brief exchange told him much about this fighter's abilities, some regarding his Staff, the Cloud, Gourd, everything which he had figured out pointed to the identity of the being that this guy's abilities was based from... and if what his companion was telling him right now was any accurate, then likely this guy was similar to himself as well... **"For one who bears the title of the Monkey King, you definitely take after him in the attention whore department." **

"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you." Sun responded, a grin on his features not so unlike that of a happy monkey, confirming to SHADOW the identity of the being whom he calls partner in this situation. What, even if he didn't sing for the same reasons as Zwei Wing, he still enjoyed the thrill of being at the centre of attention, so it wasn't really wrong for SHADOW to say what he did. The hooded male rolled his eyes at seeing this, his unpocketed hands stretching into claw-like positions. From them, black Flames erupted forth, quickly manifesting his twin Longswords Vertrauen and Stolz. Both blades released sinister hums from their forms as they vibrated dangerously in his hands, looking like flames would erupt from them at any moment.

To that end, Sun broke into a sprint as well, prompting SHADOW to do the same. However, before the two of them could clash, suddenly Sun started to... sing.

**(Play OST MADKID - RISE ´Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari´ Full)**

'Wha-?!'

POW!

In one second, Sun's speed took an EXPLOSIVE increase as he appeared before him, smirking as he swung his Staff and slammed it into the side of SHADOW's head. The said hooded male's eyes grew so wide that they bulged within their own sockets, especially at the amount of sheer PAIN which erupted from the hilt, making him believe that if he wasn't donning his current attire, then he likely would have had his head smashed into a pulp. 'Wha?! This power...! what the hell, why did his power increase?!' the male thought as he got sent flying from the attack, bouncing along the ground several times before sliding along it. As he looked up once he'd stopped moving, SHADOW noticed Sun, still singing, having jumped into the air and was now directly above him, Staff raised as it suddenly elongated to about half the size of the entire flower field. His eyes widened again at the sight, before SHADOW quickly threw his hand to the side, shooting an explosive blast from it to propel himself out of the staff's way as it came down and smashed the ground where he had once lay.

Rolling to his feet, SHADOW got back up and switched his weapons to Donner and Schlag, aiming them at thee falling Sun and letting loose a grand total of 12 shots. Each shot had been aimed well and true, each one going for the golden teen's two arms... and they would have hit if Sun hadn't had his Gourd uncork itself and absorb them into it. To that end, SHADOW quickly manifested some of his flames, forming a circle around himself and began making constructs from te Flames, forming cannons and streaks made from the flames themselves though not their metallic forms that his normal weapons were made from, proceeding to fire a massive barrage at his opponent. Sun however, resized his Staff so that it became just a little longer than his overall height and twirled it in front of him, smashing through the attacks which would have hit him otherwise all the while absorbing the rest of them with his Gourd.

Not one to be perturbed by this, SHADOW switched out his weapons again, this time forming a new weapon which he had been developing only recently, however it definitely wouldn't be his last. His right hand erupted with Flames that soon turned into solid metal, and in no time at all, the hooded male held in his hand... a Gattling Gun, and a rather large one at that with 6 barrels as well as a similar appearance to his twin guns Donner and Schlag. 'Hmph, since you can absorb things, then how about some lead from Metzelei?!' the male thought, aiming the Gattling Gun known as Metzelei towards his opponent and allowing it to begin its rotation. When it did, the weapon began to spew out black hot fiery bullets at a rapid pace, almost akin to forming a perfectly solid streak of bullets which sailed towards his opponent. Said opponent just twirled his Staff even faster, to the point where one couldn't see his arms anymore and in front of him was nothing but a rotating circle. 'Hmph, a Gattling Gun which can fire 12,000 rounds for a full 5 minutes straight... lets see how he handles this!' SHADOW thought as each bullet slammed into this 'defence' with astronomical force, only to be repelled and dispersed by the rotating staff, something which SHADOW's brow twitched at whilst Sun's mouth shifted into a slightly boastful smirk as he sung. 'This guy...!'

Wishing to not be the one outdone here, SHADOW switched weapons again, dismissing his Metzelei in a flash of black flames as he held both arms up above and around his shoulder, as if he were aiming an RPG towards Sun or something. The moment that he did, both hands erupted into Black Flames, flames which soon formed a new metallic black and red weapon waiting to be used by its master. In the end, it took the form of a cross shaped weapon, one which he held in his right hand and had the size of half of SHADOW's height. There was a name embedded into its side just like the rest of his weapons, though his Metzelei had its name on its main compartment instead of possibly on one of its barrels: 'Orkan'. The moment SHADOW pulled the trigger, a barrage of 12 missiles and rockets, 6 each, erupted forth from the barrel, the recoil nearly making him stumble backwards due to its strength. In response to this, Sun's eyes widened slightly in disbelief 'Sheesh, just how many weapons does this guy have?!' the golden haired teen thought as he stabbed his Staff into the ground and began to extend its top half, pulling himself upwards and above the projectiles. He then retracted the Staff's bottom half, before rearing it back as if he were going to throw a javelin, before the Staff briefly glowed in a bright light, about 20 or so exact duplicates forming around him much to SHADOW's dismay.

"Your not the only one who can attack at range, buddy!"

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-!

Explosive sounds filled SHADOW's ears as he hurriedly dodged each thrown staff like his life depended on it, flipping and twisting around like he were a parkour master whilst dismissing his Orkan, noticing only one Staff teleport back into it's master's hands. Upon his landing, Sun jumped forwards, forward flipping and bringing his Staff down on SHADOW's position. Not wanting to lose his ground, said hooded male raised an arm and formed a wall of black flames to defend himself, all the while hopping to the side and manifesting his Schlagen in his right hand. The reason he did this became clear in the next instance when Sun, whose eyes widened during his song, noticed him about to fire again just as his Gourd had been distracted with absorbing the fire wall, allowing SHADOW to fire a strike directly into his left shoulder and knock him flying backwards. Sun gasped at this, but continued to sing, something which made a glimmer of... something appear in the black dressed male's eyes as he dashed forwards, dismissing Schlagen for his twin Longswords again. He swung his right Longsword Stolz once he got close enough, for Sun to land and block it with his Staff, before having to twist its angle to block the follow-up attack from Vertrauen. For a brief second, the two weapons remained interlocked together...

Before SHADOW muttered two following words:

"GETSUGA... TENSHO!"

**(OST End)**

BOOOM!

At once, a massive pillar of black flames erupted forth from the entire field, filling up its space and wiping out any life which became unfortunate enough to be within its reach. Plants, animals, nothing would escape its grasp for the flames would prove to be nothing but indiscriminate. A true terror which struck down anything before it regardless of what it was, be it friend or foe. The pillar shot up into the skies above, roaring like the roar of a vicious dragon hell bent on wasting the entire world for going against it and thus incurring its wrath, before it all vanished after a few seconds... revealing the entire field to have completely been erased from existence. As in, no longer could it be called a field, but instead a simple plain of dried up earthen dirt like all the liquid and life had been sucked out of it by some kind of mass consuming vampire. There were even small to car sized remnants of black Flames still burning as ferociously as they ever did, sucking up any and all light to make them look even darker than they normally would be.

Meanwhile, both fighters stood on opposite sides... though both of them looked a little worse for wear. SHADOW looked like he had just come out of a minor scuffle with a few bruises on his form, but other than that he looked pretty much okay. However, on Sun's side one could say that he had little damage done to him as well, save for the fact that some of his yellow suit had been ripped apart, exposing his right shoulder and bicep, but other than that physically Sun didn't have that much damage done to him. However the same couldn't be said for his weapons, with many cracks forming along their forms. The Gourd looked the most damaged (the one being the least damaged being his Staff, proving that weapon to be the toughest whilst his Cloud took the middle ground) due to having to absorb the full brunt of the attack, however the dark, violent nature of those flames it had tried absorbing momentarily overpowered it, damaging the device and thus inhibiting it from releasing its true might for a while. Though, not everything had gone against him since his lower body's gear looked mostly fine, if a few darkened areas thanks to the flames could be seen.

**"So, you were able to absorb even my GETSUGA TENSHO, huh...?"** SHADOW mused, thoughtfully, his gloved hands bare of any weapons for the time being. Perhaps he had underestimated the power this Synchrogear has, he figured, since that GETSUGA TENSHO was one of his strongest attacks at this time. There WERE other attacks in his arsenal of similar destructive levels of course, but with the amount of power he had expended SHADOW doubted he'd be able to utilize them to their fullest potential. According to his calculations and his senses, SHADOW had about 1/4 of his power left, so he doubted he would be able to fight for much longer. Though, considering the state of his opponent he believed that he was of a similar boat. Whilst he didn't look PHYSICALLY damaged, his weapons were another story, so if the guy had only skills in using those, then hand to hand combat would likely be a flaw. On the contrary though, he could also have skills in that area, just like SHADOW himself who didn't rely on one kind of fighting style to win. 'Hmmm... since he was singing before... and that drastic increase in fighting ability... could it be?' he wondered, before looking back to the damaged Sun whom now just got up from his crouching position, looking like he was ready for more. **"Let me guess... your Synchro Rate is actually rather low, isn't it?"**

"?!"

**"That look tells me I'm right... I do wonder how you're able to raise it like you did by singing... though I do have a theory right now. Still, it is an artificial means of raising it, which must somehow leave some negative effects on your body, either that or your abilities themselves. Whereas I myself may have only a slightly lower Synchro Rate than you do WHEN YOU SING, as of right now mine is much higher. Guess that means that this fight is on my favour for now." **

Just then, SHADOW raised his right arm and manifested his Shield, blocking a sudden strike from the Staff which Sun had enlarged and extended like he was thrusting towards something. The amount of power he felt from the strike didn't feel NEARLY as great as what he'd felt from before, which somewhat confirmed his outspoken theory, although he remained silent on the matter. "You talk too much, like some stereotypical anime protagonist or some shit." Sun retorted, scoffing since he couldn't be bothered to keep his 'happy go lucky' façade up any longer. Still, what SHADOW had mentioned hadn't exactly been wrong, in fact he had been pretty much on the money with what he'd mentioned, as Sun had to force himself not to show any signs of his current situation from appearing on his face. 'Tch, looks like I don't have long left... my Synchro Rate's back to how it was and my power's falling fast. At best I can safely assume one last attack before I'm forced to deactivate my gear for it to recharge. Well then, I only have one thing to do then...'

At that moment, SHADOW's eyes widened when he noticed the Cloud on Sun's back beginning to buzz like it had done before, electrical energy gathering in much greater quantities than he had seen it do before. 'Uh oh, don't want to get hit by that!' the hooded male thought as he held his Shield in front of him, ready to take the barrage whilst reinforcing his defence with some of his remaining power. Good thing he did too, for right afterwards Sun howled as he threw his arms to the side, the Cloud practically roaring as Lightning sparks erupted from it like a volcano becoming active. Lightning danced along the ground, through the air, every single SPEC of space was filled with the stuff as it discharged into everything within the Cloud's immediate vicinity. To counter this, SHADOW held on tight and stood firm for as long as he would be able to, gritting his teeth whilst his slitted eyes narrowed behind his shield towards the direction of his opponents. He could hear the sounds of the many discharges, and he dared not lower his defences for even a SECOND lest he get hit with an unknown amount of voltage.

BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZT-BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

The sounds of the discharges plus countless sparks filled the air as SHADOW had to force himself to push in more and more of his dwindling power to help maintain his Shield, with explosions occurring in every direction around him to limit his vision. Each time the Shield took some of the Sparks released, audible tremors passed through it and up the user's arm, causing the said user to grimace every now and then, though he mentally made sure that nobody would be getting the drop on him by occasionally glancing around at his surroundings. Should anyone attempt to try a sneak attack, due to his condition odds were that SHADOW may have no choice but to either let them hit or risk being hit by the voltage and dodge by jumping away, something which the hooded male rather dreaded.

Finally however, just when his Shield looked like it was about to break apart into many tiny pieces and leave its wielder exposed, SHADOW noticed something... the Sparks had lost their 'force' now, having become just some minor electrical discharges in the air without much threat to him unless SHADOW were to step into an area still supercharged with them, according to his thought process. This caused him to arch a brow, wondering what had happened to the user since an attack like this would have drained a LOT of power for someone with such an abysmally low Synchro Rate, so it likely would have left him severely drained, maybe even perhaps on the verge of falling unconscious. Therefore, he finally decided to dismiss his Shield, letting it deform itself into black flames which he then proceeded to use to create a larger wave, one which went in every direction (he was the one immune to his own flames of course), to disperse both the discharges as well as the smoke built up by the attack. When that was done, SHADOW looked to where Sun had been located before all this had happened... only to see nothing but an empty space.

'Hmmm... so he got away. Must have saved enough power to do something like that from the start.' SHADOW thought, a mild sense of frustration worming its way inside of his being as he pocketed his hands inside his long black hooded coat. Since there was nothing that was keeping SHADOW here any longer, the hooded teen turned on his boots and proceeded to make his way out of the field, not having enough power to fly back to the city but still maintain his current getup until he got back home... though he likely would have to make a quick stop to Lydian so he could make contact with Hibiki's superiors, as well as return her phone to her. 'Oh wait, is it okay? Did it not get fried by any stray bolts just now..?' he suddenly thought, eyes widening in surprise and a brief spike of worry as he hurriedly pulled out the mentioned device and checked to see if it worked. Fortunately for him, it did with proof being how the home screen came on without any calls or messages from Miku either, so he didn't have to worry about that. 'Phew, that's a relief...'

**[Good, at least now that dumb ape will not be forgetting us so easily. Furthermore, we've finally found another one whose in a similar situation to us, and not like all the others whom we've faced so far. If anything, the Noise are now no longer our primary concern, though we have always had multiple primary concerns on our side of things. Now that we've confirmed the existence of a third party however, making contact with those adults is much more of an incentive for us now.]**

'I know. Plus they even have someone similar to me on their side, someone who has a Gear which is like mine and can adequately use it judging by this battle... however, there's something off about him that I can't quite put my finger on. I'll ponder on it some more later, but suffice to say that guy has my attention right now. As does some other things, but for now we should focus on making our way back to Lydian, see what the situation is there with those guys as well as that broken Sword.' he thought back, grimacing as a surge of reluctance erupted inside of his chest. Now that he had started this, SHADOW figured there to be no turning back for them both, but it still didn't make the thought of having to work with the adults he so despised any easier to bear. Even if it was for someone whom he considered close to him.

**[You were the one whom decided to act on impulse, so do not come crying to me about it.]**

'Yeah, I get it, I get it...' SHADOW responded with a sigh, his coat tails flapping about behind him as he faded into the shadows of the night, drifting out of existence like a phantom.

* * *

Later that night, several things came to light:

One, Tsubasa sadly didn't recover completely from the use of her Superb Song, albeit incomplete thanks to the interference which had happened. Physically, she would be able to be treated and eventually would be able to fight normally like she had been out on the front lines, something which had relieved the members of Division 2 when they had heard this news from the doctors at one of their sponsored hospitals, located deep within the city itself. However, that was where the good news ended and where the bad news began, as whilst physically Tsubasa would be able to make a recovery in the physical department, her mind would be another story as she had slipped into a Coma, thus her proper awakening would be left undetermined, something that did NOT go so well with the Division 2 members when they heard that. Still, there wasn't much they could do in that situation, the fact that they would have to sit on the side-lines and wait for some miracle to happen being something that they had much experience with, though it didn't make things any easier for them. As a result, nobody knew what the immediate future would bring, not for the idol industry whom had received notification of Tsubasa being unable to take part in any activities for the time being due to complications of circumstances, or the Noise whom likely would still be appearing no matter what. At least they still had Hibiki and her Gungnir still operational and ready for active duty, as otherwise their defences against the Noise would have become non-existent... not something Genjuro or anyone wanted to think about.

The second thing had to do with Hibiki herself, having been scolded slightly by Genjuro for shirking on her duties, though it had been mitigated thanks to her having come into contact with SHADOW, someone whom the Division had been chasing for a while. As SHADOW had been someone whom had fought with them against the Noise threat, yet still remained an unknown to them, Division 2 wasn't sure what to make of him, since it wasn't like he could be counted as an enemy to humanity like the Noise, though it didn't seem like he was a particularly friendly individual either, creating this air of complexity about him. That and the powers that he possessed, powers which seemed like they were on par with a Symphogear… yeah, one wouldn't be wrong with calling him a complex individual. With the fact that he would be making contact with them in the immediate future, Division 2 would finally get some answers which they had been searching for, for about 2 years now. Answers which they eagerly awaited the chance to hear from the mouth of their giver, although Genjuro did try to question Hibiki about why SHADOW would go so far for someone like her. Something which she didn't have the answer to unfortunately, although she did mention that he did feel somewhat familiar to her but she just couldn't quite put her finger on it. Aside from this, Hibiki definitely wanted to learn more about the guy, especially with what he had done for her and Miku by stepping in, allowing himself to make contact with her superiors, all so she wouldn't miss out on any time with her childhood friend or break any of the promises they had made together. Whether he be an ally or enemy at this point, Hibiki just couldn't think of him as someone bad or a stranger anymore, not after what he had done for her. Heck, one time when Miku had asked her how things had gotten settled with her little 'job' (Hibiki had to call it that in one of her cover stories) the cream haired girl had vaguely explained that someone who had some 'connections' to her employers had volunteered to help her out, letting her come stargaze whilst taking her place.

Finally, there was some answers to other things which had been brought to light thanks to this incident, like the fate of the Nehushtan Armour which had been stolen from them 2 years ago, on the day of the fated Concert. The fact that someone now wore it, not only that but also had some degree of control over one of the few completed Relics remaining had Division 2 along with the higher ups in the Japanese Government in a silent uproar, since it meant that something which had to be used for the country's defence against the Noise now lay in the hands of an unknown party. A Party which had the ability to summon the Noise themselves and control them like they were a great general of the heavens, something which hinted at this party not being the... friendliest of people or people with the best interests of humanity in mind. If Division 2 had tense feelings for the potential future they had coming for them, then the Japanese Government may as well have been running about like wild headless chickens in panic at the thought of such a national threat occurring when there was a more global one (the Noise) still at large. This third party may not have much information about them known to Division 2, however it confirmed their theories about their existence based off the many hacking attempts, something which many now believed to be this Third Party's doing now that they had official confirmation about their existence.

In the end though, it seemed that only time would tell with what these kinds of moves these new 'players' would have for this particular chessboard... only time, and nothing else.

* * *

**Preview for next arc:**

"With the way things are, I dread the future which is in store for us, first with Kanade, and now with Tsubasa..."

"Who the heck was that hooded dude anyways? Feels so similar to me, and I don't like it..."

**[He seems to be like us... although your case is more of a mixed baggage, he must be the genuine article.]**

"Its okay for you to stay being you, Hibiki. Hibiki Tachhibana's one of the best people I have ever known, after all."

"...You okay?"

"Ah! Um, yes, thank you for helping me!"

"... no problem."

**"So, it is finally time we meet... Hibiki Tachibana."**

"Eh? You are...?! EHH?! WHA? H-HOW?! WHAT?!"

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Whew! Now THAT is the end of the first arc! Not only did we have the fated reunion of Tsubasa and the things she had lost returning her after 2 years, the Armour and Gungnir, but we also had the first TRUE confrontation with SHADOW and the newly revealed to be Symphogear user SUN! Someone whose been working alongside Chris this whole time, not to mention is someone quite capable on the battlefield. Though, it seems there is a lot more to Sun than just being a simple Symphogear user. We even see some more of the opinions, motivations and ideals of several people in this chapter, as well as a preview of the next Arc... which will come after I finish some chapters for OEG. **

**Yes, you've heard me. For those of you who aren't aware, I came to this fandom after publishing some chaps for another story of mine called One Eyed G Re:Birth. Its a story in which it takes place in another series called Hyperdimension Neptunia, a mostly comedy take on the Gaming industry itself with cute girls and fanservice. OEG's got over 100 follows and favs, so its not wrong of me to say that its decently popular, heck with what I have planned for its character and story, I believe that count will only grow bigger. Anyways, I came here to this fandom with the intent of posting a few chapters of a new Symphogear fic (this one) before going back to OEG with some chillaxing chapters which will prepare the story for its next arc. Afterwards, I intend to come back to this story and create this next arc... and believe me, with things that I have been setting up since the beginning, I bet very few of you will be seeing them coming. **

**Also, for fans who've seen the first season of this show... the next Symphogear arc is going to be an original arc of mine which I've been intending to write from the start, and that's all I'm willing to say on the matter. So sorry if you want to see the plot moving forwards, but this original arc needs to happen so I can tie in some threads that need tying in like a certain someone's backstory, a few revelations regarding some powers and weapons, as well as what will be happening in the next season too. I've got a LOT of things in store that this next Arc will need some time to prepare, not to mention that I have to rewatch the first season's episodes 4 and five just so I can get the timing right (since this next arc will likely take place whilst Tsubasa is in her coma)... Yeah, this Arc will DEFINITELY be a doosy to write, I can promise you that, and hopefully it will satisfy you all who are eagerly awaiting the chance to finally get the answers to the various mysteries that have happened throughout this story. If you want to theorize what they might be, you can do so in the reviews or PM's, I'd like to hear what people think of what I've done so far. Even if they're in the negative side of things. **

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and see you all in the next one**

**Peace Out!**


	9. Chapter 9 - Let's Talk, Shall We?

**Chapter 9 – Let's talk, shall we?**

One could say that, thanks to recent events, Genjuro found it quite difficult to see things from a brighter perspective… if there was any like that at all as of today. The man stood in the centre of the command room in the Division 2 headquarters, watching from his position at the top with his gaze casting itself like the gaze of an owl towards the large monitors. His eyes swam with all kinds of complex emotions which betrayed the inner turmoil deep inside of him, yet nobody bothered to call him out on it… mostly due to them feeling somewhat the same way. A silent, sombre atmosphere currently dominated the command room, with everyone working as hard as they could almost like their lives were on the line in order to find any leads of which they could go off of.

Well, it had been a day since the whole incident with that new pair of people with one of them having the same Relic which had been stolen from them right under their Noses, and already the atmosphere had turned grimmer than it had ever been within the Division 2 headquarters. However, with the way that the two individuals who had attacked Tsubasa last night having seemingly dropped off the grid, it didn't look like they would be finding much of a lead on that front.

Something which irritated the man inside, though it wasn't like he could show it since if he did, it'd affect the morale of his subordinates. It wasn't easy, being a leader of men and women like this…

Worse, they were down two operatives, one of them having been down for over 2 years at this point. The second, Tsubasa Kazanari… Genjuro clenched his fists as he silently seethed, frustration bubbling inside at how useless he felt inside for not being able to help his niece in her moment of need. To her, he seemed less like family and more like a military superior, which wasn't technically wrong considering their… blood relation, but because of how she saw him as of right now, Genjuro would not be able to do a damn THING to break through that shell she had put up since Kanade's unfortunate 'defeat' back at the Concert. Worse still, now that the blunette had put herself into a coma thanks to her incomplete Superb Song, their ability to combat the Noise (whom thankfully haven't shown up since yesterday as of yet) had reached an all time low. This would be the absolute WORST case scenario himself as well as the higher ups in the Japanese Government feared most. Because of the lack of compatible wielders of Relics as well as the lack of Symphogears, their resources weren't as capable in holding off the Noise as they would have liked, and because of this they had all feared this outcome becoming reality…

Whelp, now that reality was here, not like they could do much about it.

"With the way things are, I dread the future, which is in store for us, first with Kanade, and now with Tsubasa…"

Then there was the matter with SHADOW, another source of unease for the middle-aged man. Lets just say that Division 2 wasn't the only ones interested to learn more about that person's existence, in fact the Japanese Government had a similar interest… to the point where there were debates on whether or not they should mobilize the entire military force in order to capture the guy alive and bring him in to be treated as an experimental lab rat… not in those exact words, but Genjuro could guess their intent from his many years of serving under such people in his lifetime, something which he did NOT approve of in the slightest. Unfortunately, as an organisation which is serving under said Government, it wasn't like they could refuse that order if they tried forcing the issue, but on the plus side Ryouko had been able to convince the Government that sending the entire Japanese military after 'someone who could defeat entire armies of enemies which the military can't do jack shit to' would be one of the worst decisions they could have ever made, one which would only have resulted in the loss of too many good, hard working soldiers. Nobody wanted to have that on their conscience or their records, so the idea had been dropped… on the surface at least.

On their side, things related to SHADOW hadn't progressed much either. With everything that had happened, Genjuro had little time to ponder the issue that person's existence presented to their overall situation. For one, even though young Tachibana Hibiki, whom he had already made reflect on her actions yesterday, had somehow managed to convince him to talk to them, they hadn't heard a single peep from the guy. It had only been a day to be sure though, so maybe that was it. Things were still getting underway for any possible search areas though, so they could still get some sort of answer to their questions of where to go from here, but for the time being there wasn't that much they could do but to wait. No matter how much it vexed him and the rest of their group to the point where even Ryouko remained quiet about it all, this was their situation, so they had to deal with it accordingly.

**"Well, isn't this an interesting sight…?"**

"?!"

A collective gasp shot through the command room as all of a sudden, alarms started flaring like crazy, similar to a bunch of screaming civilians going on a panic-induced riot. The whole command room became filled by a crimson hue thanks to these, as various errors appeared on the multiple sets of monitors. The biggest one appeared on the main monitor, similar in appearance to when their systems identified the return of Gungnir once Hibiki unintentionally activated it back at the abandoned power plant. All the while, everyone, including Genjuro, looked around for the source of the voice whilst a few of the tried to see what the errors were about by typing like mad people possessed by insanity.

"Sir, we have an unidentified intruder approaching us through the main corridor! Defences have been disabled; we can't stop it!"

"This object's going to be on us at any moment now…!"

Comments like this filled Genjuro's ears as the middle-aged man managed to recover his composure first, especially when he remembered Hibiki's words to him when they had talked about her skipping out on her duties. This caused him to narrow his eyes, a contemplative expression forming on his features as he quickly calmed himself. 'This could be a lucky break for us, or an instrument of a disaster, at which point I fail to see how we as an organisation can recover…' the red-haired man thought grimly, yet with a surge of hope in his being. This could NOT be a coincidence, and if he was right, then there would only be one answer as to the identity of this intruder.

An answer soon arrived though, when two… things, slowly slid though the seams of the blast doors at their centre, then proceeded to push upwards as well as downwards in order to force the blast doors open since the alarms meant that their emergency systems had locked all entrances, sealing everyone inside the command room. The things then got revealed to be… hands, rather large ones to be exact, as they gripped the blast doors and forcefully pried them open, allowing a figure dressed in black to step through. The moment that the figure did so, familiar coat tails fluttering behind it, the figure pocketed its main hands inside it's coat whilst the arms, which looked to have been made from black flames that protruded out of its back, receded into it all whilst it proceeded to walk towards the cautious-looking Genjuro. The figure then stopped when they were in talking distance, with the figure having practically IGNORED the frantic orders to stop from the other members until Genjuro held out a hand to silence them. **"So… we finally meet, face to face… Leader of Division 2."**

"Yes… and I'm right to assume that…. You're SHADOW, aren't I?"

**"Correct. Now, how about we stop with these alarms and get straight to it, shall we?"**

"Ugh… guh… gah… guh… ugh…"

Pained groans escaped his lips, as one Golden Sun grunted and groaned as he lay in a nice-looking bed within his bedroom, one which had been provided to him by his 'mother' as a reward for his 'service' to her all these years. The bedroom itself had a rather… lavish looking appearance, with a king-sized bed fit for said royal being filling the majority of the room's space, and a whole other bunch of equipment, clothes and accessories neatly piled up in closets. The room's colours reflected his own colour pallet: gold, crimson and blue, truly making it a room fitting for someone who held the title of the Monkey King. Though nobody could be fooled by the 'beauty' this bedroom possessed, since in reality it had no greater purpose than being a twisted, sadistic cage, fit only for a lowly dog who only existed to carry out the wills of its master. This had been a fact which Sun had gotten used to at this point, but right now that wasn't something which he put much focus into at the moment, instead all he focused on was the sheer AGONY which his body was currently enduring thanks to the events that had happened yesterday. On one hand he couldn't help but be thankful that he had this pain since it allowed him to focus on something OTHER than the pained shrieks of his friend downstairs whilst his 'mother' had her way with her… and not in the sexual way, but more in a sadistic tormentor kind of way.

One could say that it was for the girl's own good since using the Nehushtan Armour always came with the risk of it permanently trying to fuse with her body, something which Chris wouldn't be able to survive, and in order to combat this issue the Armour must be 'shocked' out of her body akin to a painful electromagnetic pulse, cleansing her of it. But, to Sun, all of that was just an excuse for that WOMAN to inflict her own sadistic whims on the poor girl, it had been something which had been going on for a long ass time, and despite the powers which he possessed, Sun couldn't really do anything to stop it, not like Chris would have wanted him to either with how 'devoted' she was. The worst of it all was that Chris had gone through so much 'conditioning' now that she had become emotionally dependent on the woman, not caring much for the pain she had to endure if it meant that they could accomplish 'their' goal. Its almost like she had lost all sense of individuality at this point, which brought Sun great pain if he were able to focus too much on those pain-riddled screams.

Hence why he felt somewhat grateful to be suffering on his own at the moment.

'Tch… I must have… really pushed my Gear real hard… for the recoil to be this bad…' the golden haired teen thought with a pained scowl, memories of that battle with the mysterious being known as SHADOW returning to the forefront of his mind, that battle being the SOLE reason why he had been reduced to this state. If he hadn't then he likely would have been able to continue on with his day as normal, perhaps even make it to a few concerts to perform in his idol duties. However, thanks to his current condition those plans had to be cancelled, much to his dismay since he really liked to perform. This pain, it always came as a result of overextending himself either by remaining in his transformed state for a prolonged time period or whenever he had to sing in order to artificially raise his 'compatibility' with the Gear which he called his own.

'Once again, this abnormality causes me trouble… you're really an attention-whore, huh?'

Thinking about his weapon, Sun couldn't help but let out a wry chuckle before he winced from a spike in terrible pain that the action had brought. If anyone were to say that his Gear was… unique, then he'd call it a gross understatement. One couldn't really call it a 'normal' Symphogear either, especially with its origins alone, in addition to the perks which it granted him. Even how it worked differed from the usual Symphogears, one of those ways being that it didn't necessarily require him to 'sing' in order to activate it anymore, but rather a specific 'chant', one granted to him through some kind of mind transfer as if the brain itself were a supercomputer downloading some PDF into its archives. However, because of its 'abnormality' one could say that it brought him no small amount of troubles, though he honestly didn't mind it since it ended up allowing him to meet one of the few things which formed as a positive factor in his life since everything went to shit way back when.

Still, his thoughts then began to wander back to the one whom had caused him to be reduced to this pitiful state, memories of a certain black dressed youth wielding flames so black that they looked like they could devour all kinds of light in their path, like a never-ceasing void of pure darkness which chilled him to the bone. "Who the heck was that hooded dude, anyways…?" Sun whispered to himself in wonder, furrowing his brows as he replayed the fight in his mind… yeah, he'd call it a fight since it would be the truly FIRST time, he had fought against someone on equal ground like that. No matter what he had thrown at the guy, that hooded youth seemingly had a never-ending arsenal of different weapons aimed to bring him down. As edgy as fuck that he looked, the guy definitely had the ability to resist him in battle, and he did NOT appreciate that thought, mostly due to it potentially drawing his 'mother's interest which would NEVER be a good thing. "He feels so similar to me, and I don't like it…" he muttered again, groans of pain escaping his lips as he turned himself around so that he lay on his bed back first, holding a forearm over his forehead whilst he stared up at the ceiling, eyes glimmering with an uncertain, pained yet concerned sparkle to them.

**[He seems to be like us… Although your case is a mixed baggage, he seems like he's the genuine article.]**

Just them Wukong's voice cut through the crimson haze of pain dominating his mind like a knife, filling him with his presence. Yeah, Wukong identified himself as a male, but anyways, when he spoke those words Sun's eyes widened slightly at the revelation. 'What?! Like me?! Do you mean he has one too?!' he shrieked mentally, and if he could then the teen would have just sat up straight. Shame his body didn't allow him to do that right now, but still his companion and partner in all but blood could still sense the amount of disbelief and anxiety his words caused him. Still, this didn't detract Wukong from saying the truth like it was, nope not one bit.

**[Unfortunately, and as much as I HATE him for taking the attention off us, since we're the King after all, I must admit that his presence in this city deeply concerns me. Although we are an idol in the eyes of the masses, we hardly know what the 'rest' of our kind is up to since we've grown up so isolated from the world aside from the missions that 'wench' demands of us.]**

Sun winced when he heard Wukong say this, especially when he heard the sheer indignation that he spoke with at the beginning. 'Ouch, saying that this guy's got the attention spotlight must REALLY hurt your pride, huh? Then again, I'm the same way right now…' he thought back. As much as he hated to admit it when it came to that woman and her missions, Sun had grown used to having the spotlight directed on top of him, he loved it even. He'd always liked being at the centre of attention in everything he did, even when he was a little lad before things went to hell for both him AND his friend Chris. Which was another reason why he hated that woman, she pretty much took advantage of that and twisted it for her own agendas. 'Ugh, let's stop thinking about that woman, and focus on the problem at hand…' he thought to his partner, Wukong agreeing since he shared his distaste for her. 'What have you figured out about this SHADOW character…? Anything we can use on him?'

**[From what I've managed to piece together, whomever SHADOW is, he is in the possession of the essence of the Evil Dragon Vritra. That thing was meant to be the destined rival of the god Indra, said to have been felled by him in the multiple iterations of their legend. Though I'm not sure which one is true, perhaps they all are true in a sense, but nonetheless Vritra was known back then for his, as chuuni as this sounds its actually an appropriate name: Purgatory Dragon Fire: A powerful, dark flame that never extinguish and is capable of negating regenerative abilities. Worse still is that SHADOW has shown significant proficiency with it, which leads me to believe he has a number of applications for it. The many weapons he has further supports this theory, although I believe he hasn't showcased the fullest extent of his powers just yet, and finally it does seem that he wasn't talking nonsense before, his Synchro Rate must be higher than ours if he was able to fight so well.]**

Of course, none of this was exactly what Sun had wanted to hear from his partner, especially the reminder of how he had so thoroughly kicked their backsides enough for them to be forced to flee like a bunch of scared cats, not something he was over quite yet. The whole thing with the Synchro Rate was a whole other can of worms, one which he would rather not get into since it involved some… personal issues, ones which would take his attention away from the problem at hand. 'Great, so not only is he hogging my spotlight, but he's also gotten the bite to go with his bark? Anything we CAN use against him then?'

**[… Aside from trying to raise the Synchro Rate or extend your ability to Sing, there isn't that much you can do against him as you are right now. It may have LOOKED Like you had the upper hand for the fight's majority, but you and I both know that internally you would have emerged the loser if that battle had dragged on, as much as it infuriates me to admit this since Dragons are creatures of endless arrogance and pride. At best, you could possibly try draining some of his energy reserves by sending masses of Clones his way, focus on less draining abilities in order to whittle him down, but even then, it'd be a close battle of attrition, and in that sense, SHADOW possesses a greater advantage over us.]**

Hearing this, Sun groaned as he shuffled over onto his front, burying his head in his pillow whilst moaning at the surges of pain which his movements got accompanied by as if his body was trying to punish him from disturbing it's recovery. At least the talk was allowing him to focus on other matters, so he didn't feel the pain as much, but that didn't mean he could ignore it completely. Still, if what his partner Wukong was telling him was indeed the case, then Sun could NEVER allow his friend Chris (whose screams had stopped which likely meant that the 'session' had been ended, thankfully) to EVER go near him. In the past, there had been some experimental tests done where his own 'Gear' since he didn't know what to properly call it anymore, and the Nehushtan Armour got pitted against one another. Those tests were meant to prove on which of them were the superior relic, a single complete one… or an amalgamation of multiple incomplete Relics? Although, things had happened which only Sun himself knew about so the true identity of his Gear would be shrouded in even more mystery than his 'mother' could ever hope to comprehend.

Regardless, in the end it had been decided that his Gear would be the superior weapon of choice, even his 'mother' admitted to it with great reluctance, for no matter how great the Armou's defence was, which wasn't weak by any means, once his singing started it wouldn't be able to handle the power output that his Gear could generate. If it were the case with HIS Gear, then should Chris come across SHADOW and his Gear, what with those healing-negating flames of his, then Chris's sole lifeline would have to be considered worthless. He couldn't let that happen, no he REFUSED to.

But, then again, his friend's temper always ended with her jumping into these reckless situations anyways, so could he really stop her?

'Then why can't we just resolve these apparent issues, Wukong?' Sun eventually just spoke it out after a brief moment where frustration had swelled inside his chest then exploded like a bomb going off. His teeth gnashed together as anger and exasperation released itself from his being. 'If we were to just get over them and properly work together, then fighting our enemies would be a freaking piece of cake! I know you kings are stubborn, but seriously!'

**[Hmph! Pot calling the Kettle black, are we? Listen, there's no such point in trying to talk me into helping you more than I already am, and even this is stretching my patience with you and your idiotic shit. Whining about your friend? Letting that woman boss, you around like her personal boy toy? It's just PATHETIC! It's not ME who needs to change, its YOU and your WIMPINESS, brat. Until you realize this, and I'm betting that will likely never happen, then this is all you can expect out of my power. I refuse to help an idiot who can't even think for himself, that's how you'll likely meet your end.]**

Anger swelled within his chest when Sun heard these berating and insulting words come from his partner, and just when he made to retort on the Monkey King not understanding what he was going through the mental link between them got cut. This resulted in the blonde being left alone, stewing in his silent fury all whilst he remained unable to move, the pain having intensified due to his aggravated state.

'He's wrong… he's definitely wrong! I'm not being an idiot, I'm not…!'

Those thoughts circled through Sun's head as he buried his face in his pillow, and yet no matter how much that he did so… why did he get the feeling they proceeded to gradually become more like bratty excuses the more he uttered them?

Conflict.

Hibiki Tachibana could definitely say that word pretty much summarized what had happened to her for the majority of the day, starting from yesterday post the scolding Genjuro had inflicted on her. She'd apologized to the man, but he had decided to let her off considering that they had managed to get some benefits out of her actions, though she'd be put on standby until the next Noise attack which could come any time now. Day, night, it meant nothing to those things, something which the young girl had learned the hard way as she walked through the streets, having left the Academy to head out to her home to see her parents. She'd mentioned it to her friend Miku so she knew where she was going this time (something which Hibiki had mixed opinions on if anyone were to ask her), but if she were honest, she really wanted to see some familiar faces right now.

Throughout the entire morning, Hibiki had been in a particularly low place in terms of mentality. This had mostly been due to what she had learned post the scolding about Tsubasa's story, about how she had been suffering in silence these past two years with little help from anyone… well, not like she allowed any people to help her, instead she just pushed everyone away to become a living 'sword' which would protect humanity by defeating their enemies.

She even had learned more about Kanade, the same woman who had saved her life back then… and things from there only became worse for the poor girls.

Their story, a tale born from obligation, duty, blood and sacrifice. According to Ogawa whom had been the one to tell her, Tsubasa had always been fighting, and that wasn't an exaggeration. Growing up (he didn't elaborate too much on the whole family thing but Hibiki guessed it had been a pretty strict one) whilst learning how to wield a Sword had been pretty much Tsubasa's entire childhood, and by some lucky occurrence her singing voice had caused a resonance with the Ame no Habakiri, making her their first ever Symphogear wielder. Thus, she had been the first one to jump into the world of fighting the Noise, a rather bloody battlefield… and this had been the case for a long while until Kanade came into the picture. Though, unlike her, Kanade didn't gain Gungnir by chance, oh no it was quite the opposite. After her family who had taken her to their mining excavation got butchered by Noise in one of their attacks, Kanade had volunteered to test a drug meant to artificially raise compatibility made by Ryouko herself, thus allowing herself to be the subject of some BRUTAL experiments which Ogawa would rather not explain in too graphic a detail. In the end though, when she had reached the limit of her body, spewing out blood from her mouth as if her own song was trying to scream out its torment, she resonated with the nearby Gungnir and became its Symphogear wielder, gaining her ability to sing through a mix of vomit and blood. From then on, the two, as much as they were in terms of being polar opposites to one another, would then go on to become Zwei Wing, an Idol duo which got formed after hearing their songs being complimented by soldiers on the battlefield…

An idol duo which would only last a few years, however.

By the time that Ogawa had finished explaining things to her, especially the state that Kanade had found herself in at the moment with its effects on Tsubasa, well, the word 'crushed' would probably be best to describe how Hibiki had felt at that moment, heck it could even be considered an understatement due to what she had heard. With what he had explained to her, Hibiki fully realized something: just how STUPID she had truly been, thinking that she could be a proper successor to Gungnir's previous wielder and replace Kanade. In reality, she could never truly do something like that, and now that she knew the story between those two Hibiki had felt disgusted with herself for even THINKING that she could anyways. In her frustration, Hibiki wanted to freaking punch her past self for thinking about that kind of action, even if Ogawa had foreseen her thought process and assured her that she didn't need to act like Kanade's replacement, but instead call HERSELF by her own identity, as well as the wielder of Gungnir. Something she had been thinking about since the day began, throughout the school day until lunch, when she had another conversation about her doubts with Miku.

Thinking about her best friend forever (BFF) brought a huge smile onto the girl's face, her eyes brightening with happiness and joy. Thanks to SHADOW's efforts, she had been able to spend that time she had wanted with Miku, watching the shooting Stars with her and finally having that break from things which she had been craving. Like many things in their past however, Miku hadn't taken very long to notice her conflicting emotions, and quickly came to ask her about it. Of course, Miku wasn't allowed to know the full truth, so Hibiki had to tell her about her conflict without indicating anything like Division 2 and Symphogears. She had spoken about her current dilemma, about how she kept struggling on deciding whether or not to fit into someone else's shoes in order to 'solve a problem' of hers, or just to be herself like it had been recommended to her. By the end of it, Miku had said the following thing, quite possibly the best thing she could have said to cheer Hibiki up and answer the following dilemma she had:

"It's okay to stay being you, Hibiki. Hibiki Tachibana's one of the best people I've ever known, after all."

From the moment that Miku had said those words, it felt as though rays of hope had fallen onto her, illuminating her and showing Hibiki the way forwards, something which she absolutely ADORED her BFF for. It had prompted the young Symphogear wielder to realize more than a FEW things: really, just why was it that she wanted to fight the Noise in the first place? Sure, it was to protect people and ultimately live her life for the sake of the woman, Kanade, who had risked hers so that she would live. But, most importantly, she wanted to be true to her feelings, she wanted to protect. In a sense, that was just like what Tsubasa was doing right now, so in the end Hibiki and her had a common ground to work with: they both had something that they earnestly wanted to protect. No matter how different the things they defended were, the fact that they were both defenders in their own right didn't change, and THAT would be enough for her. After this particular revelation, Hibiki had then spent the rest of the school day positively beaming with joy and relief, something which her friends at the Academy must have definitely noticed judging by the amused yet knowing smiles that they had aimed at her every now and then, Miku herself included.

Thus, things now returned to the present as Hibiki, under the influence of her recent high regarding her finally finding her own answer, began skipping across the pathway. 'Miku… you've always known what it is that's been bothering me, ever since we were kids…' Hibiki thought as she proceeded to dash forwards into a running jog, her smile ever present. 'You, who seemed so bad at communicating back then… managed to make someone like me gain the courage to move forwards, and on multiple occasions at that. You're the best… so! I'll do exactly what it is that Hibiki Tachibana should do, nobody else! Not Kanade, not, Tsubasa, only Hibiki Tachibana!' For the first time in days, things began to feel… lighter, for the young girl, like the storm clouds within her mind had finally decided to give way to the bright sunny cloudless sky that she had long since been searching for. With this lack of 'distraction' inside her mind, it gave her a sense of peace and satisfaction, something which she found to be a GODSEND for her current situation. Her plans for tomorrow soon began to form in her mind after that thought, as she quickened her pace a bit more, missing the shadowy silhouette of someone who had begun to turn the corner up ahead of her.

'Eh?'

By the time that Hibiki noticed it, as evidence by the blinking of her eyes…

SMASH!

"Kya!"

She collided with that shadow's form, a sharp cry escaping her lips whilst the sudden loss of momentum also served to propel her backwards towards the hard, unforgiving and rough concrete of the path beneath her feet. Her brain exploded with activity upon contact as shock completely paralyzed her system, along with the pain brought forth by the collision that is, all the while she quickly regained her consciousness and mentally braced herself for the inevitable hard 'crash to earth' she'd be experiencing.

Only thing was…

That didn't happen.

A single hand, one which she could only define as LARGE, reached out for her own at high speeds, a loud SMACK occurring when it grasped onto it with success then proceeded to pull backwards, pulling Hibiki along for the ride. This sudden shift in motion nearly knocked her head back, until a second hand which felt like the first one, grabbed her by the shoulder, resulting in the young girl becoming able to steady herself. This blur of motion left her a bit dazed for a couple seconds or so as she tried to process what had happened, and whilst she did so a low, gruff, masculine voice spoke out in concern for her. "… You okay?"

At this point, Hibiki barely managed to regain herself as she steadied her footing, dazedly nodding her head. "Ah, yeah I'm good… totally, totally good…" she tried to say, although some leftover dizziness still persisted within her mind, making her vision a bit blurred. 'Whew, that was close… almost ate dirt for a moment there…' she thought to herself, resisting the urge to sigh in dismay since she didn't want to be rude to whomever had helped her before. Still, the defeatist like thoughts didn't stop there, unfortunately. 'I'm such a klutz… maybe I really am cursed or something…' That soon faded away though, and with her visual acuity restored Hibiki looked up towards the one whom helped her from falling.

The moment she did so, Hibiki nearly fainted, and not the good kind of faint either, for standing before her after pulling back to allow the girl her own space, was what she could only call a GIANT hulk of a man, similar to Genjuro who was already tall in his own right. However, she got the feeling that if the two of them were compared to one another, then this man would be even taller, with a much broader and more muscular build as well. The man wore what looked like a dress shirt, some pants and dress shoes, which Hibiki attributed to some kind of uniform, though whether or not it was related to some workplace or a school Hibiki wouldn't be able to tell. She leaned more towards the work thing though, given how he looked… though, when Hibiki looked towards his chisled-looking face which looked like it had been sculpted from stone itself, she saw a mob of dark brown hair under some tanned skin, a single chocolate brown eye exposing itself to look down at her with a fame of gentleness and warmth which oddly contrasted with his large, intimidating appearance. 'H-Huuuuuge…!' she shrieked in her mind. 'T-This guy's definitely a foreigner, no Japanese guy's supposed to look like this! B-But, he did help me just now, so hurry and thank him, Hibiki you dolt!' As she yelled this in her mind, the young girl nodded her head and then bowed. "Ah! Um, yes, thank you for helping me!" she stuttered, a lightly flustered look forming on her face which would go unseen.

"… No problem."

Such a simple, calm and composed answer cane back to her, making the girl look up towards the giant as he proceeded to walk on by, soon turning a corner and leaving her sight. 'There he goes…' the cream haired girl thought, tilting her head in curiosity. 'He didn't seem like someone who talks much, wonder where he's from… He's definitely not from Japan, anyways.' Watching him go, Hibiki would have liked to go after him to see if she could at least get his name, merely out of curiosity since she hadn't really seen a guy like that in Japan before, but then she remembered her own little trip to her parents. 'Ah, right, I almost forgot! Mom's going to scold me like the commander if I'm late!' she thought, growing pale at the memories of whenever her mother 'scolded' her. Lets just say its always the quiet ones and leave it at that. To that end, Hibiki quickly forgot about the strange foreigner whom she'd bumped into and made it a point to hightail it on back home like she were being chased by a serial killer.

That night, Hibiki lay awake in her parent's house for the night, comfortably tucked into her bed like that one YouTube video where a cute little parrot kicked its feet to flip a small cover on top of itself. Although, the cream haired girl found it a little hard to sleep at the moment, mostly due to not having any soft, warm hugging pillow (read: Miku) to snuggle into like she had gotten used to for the last month. 'Moh, this last month's been really hectic…' she thought to herself as she gazed up at the ceiling, a frown on her lips as she recalled the events which had taken place… though the most recent ones with her childhood BFF put a smile on instead. After everything she had gone through up till this point, visiting her parents like this felt like a much needed and appreciated break from all the drama, a chance for her to wind down. Fortunately for her, she had managed to make it back on time, though just barely and by the time she had arrived she looked like one of those haggard beggars who'd hadn't eaten anything in weeks. She must have given her mother a shock when she'd seen that… thankfully her grandmother hadn't woken from her afternoon nap yet, otherwise the sight could have DEFINITELY given her a sheer heart attack…

'Darnit, another Jojo reference!' Hibiki shouted in her mind as she sat up abruptly and wildly shook her head, her hair which had become messy thanks to being in bed for so long wildly flailing about upon her current action, all the while she felt once again like pouting in displeasure at a certain grey eyed male's face for 'infecting' her with the 'curse of the jojo' out on a whim when she'd commented off handedly about having never watched the show before. The dude looked like he had seen a ghost when she'd stated this and almost INSTANTLY she had found herself watching it with him on their Phones… well, only the first and half of the second parts, the rest of the still animated parts she had binge watched on her free time. Now she found herself paying the price, much to her dismay. 'Mou, Tai, you meanie! It's your fault that I keep making so many Jojo references in my life!' She exclaimed as she trembled, crossing her arms under her chest with multiple tick marks forming over her head. The Image of her friend appeared in her mind, and then she proceeded to imagine dozens of fists smashing themselves onto that picture, shattering it into many pieces.

A moment or so later, Hibiki took a deep breath to calm down, inhaling and exhaling in a loud, exaggerated manner. 'Oh well, no point thinking about that now, since there's more important things to do…' She thought as she pushed those thoughts aside and focused on what she REALLY had to accomplish. The moment she did this, her eyes hardened, and a look of steely determination formed on her features with ideas and plans running through her head in an… uncommonly complex kind of mannerism. The battles she had fought in during the last month, especially the ones with SHADOW and Tsubasa taking part in them, they all showed her an IMPORTANT fact: that she had been absolutely pathetic in comparison to them. She hardly had any fighting ability at all if one didn't account for Gungnir's powers, and as such if she stayed the way she was now, then how the heck was she supposed to change anything? How could she help people if she lacked the ability to do so? Therefore, tomorrow morning, she had to find someone who could teach her how to fight better, that would be the first thing she HAD to do in order to become stronger, then there would be dealing with this 'armed gear' thing, though she didn't know much at all about that front.

Maybe the Commander could help her on those fronts…

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

Just then, Hibiki nearly jumped when she suddenly heard her Phone, which lay atop a small table near her bed charging itself, go off like an alarm clock. To be fair though, that was primarily what she used the device for aside from calls and texts anyways, but enough of that. Reaching forth towards it, Hibiki opened up the home screen and discovered the exact reason for the sudden beeping, her eyes falling onto a small envelope icon on the screen's top right corner. 'A message…? At 8 in the evening…? It can't be Miku, she's usually asleep at this time unless there's extra homework to do…' the young girl thought, curious. Part of her trembled at the thought of there being yet another Noise attack, but that thought process got dashed when she saw the name of the sender: Unknown. 'Huh? Unknown… should I just delete it then? An unknown person just sent me a text message… deleting it should be the best option here… but if this person has my number then they can just text me as many times as I please till I get the memo and text back.' Hibiki thought, confusion and worry spreading through her chest like a poisonous liquid that she desperately wanted to throw up.

However, in the end she decided to just see what was going on with this message, since at least then she would know what to talk about to the proper authorities if things went south. Thus, with that in mind Hibiki looked up the message that the sender gave her, and when she did thoughts of getting answers to her questions piled up when she saw its contents:

LOOK OUTSIDE

Gulping in nervousness and more than a little fear, Hibiki did as the message said and looked outside her room through its installed window, allowing her to view the surrounding area. Since it was located within a small residential district, there weren't a lot of tall buildings obstructing her view, therefore she found herself able to spot a silhouette standing atop one of the buildings, a silhouette which momentarily caused her pale and her heart to start thrumming within her chest, a bead of sweat forming atop her forehead. For a moment, Hibiki believed that she could have gone into a panic attack at any moment thanks to the fear and adrenaline pumping through her veins, that is until another message came to her Phone causing her to quickly look it up:

MEET ME ON THE BUILDING I'M STANDING ON, I'M THE SILHOUETTE WHICH YOU CAN SEE FROM YOUR WINDOW

Once again, another gulp as Hibiki prepared to do just that, all the while ignoring the instincts within her screaming and demanding that she go call the police or even her Division 2 superiors.

* * *

Later, having managed to locate the building the silhouette stood on and climb onto its rooftop, something which Hibiki had to do some impressive Parkour skill which Tai had once taught her in case she needed to flee (there's a reason why she had managed to evade the Noise for the majority of an afternoon pre Gungnir awakening), the girl heaved and panted heavily with her arms on top of her kneecaps for support. "#PANT#, #PANT#, #PANT#... Th-That... was… ex…haust…ing…" She mumbled under her breath between her pants as her lungs burned within her torso's confines, begging like beggars on the streets to gather as much oxygen as they could. She wouldn't be surprised if she had worked up a bit of a sweat there, but enough about herself, time for her to see whom had been messaging her this whole time. Slowly, Hibiki raised her head and caught sight of the silhouette, the moonlight from above now illuminating its form.

… Eh? Hibiki gaped when she saw the following details: fluttering coat tails, ruffling hood in the wind, two glowing crimson slitted eyes reminiscent of a dragon or a demon, as well as the dark gloves… everything the silhouette truly had pointed towards one person, whose codename slipped out of her lips as if on automatic as well as below a whisper's level of volume.

"…SHADOW…?"

Standing before her, gloves now pocketed in his hands as his coat tails fluttered in the small night breeze, stood the mysterious black hooded person known only as SHADOW by Division 2… although, something about him let different today, something she wasn't sure about. Nonetheless, the male spoke to her in his familiar blank, monotonous voice yet she detected a hint of… warmth underneath. **"So… its finally time we meet… Hibiki Tachibana..."**

"Eh...? What do you mean?" Hibiki questioned, tilting her head in confusion, though this time the fear and other emotions she'd felt before no longer existed, having vanished the moment that she had discovered this guy to be the one who'd messaged her. Knowing that it was someone she could 'somewhat' say she had familiarity with caused her to feel a whole lot better about this, especially since she had personal experiences showing her that this guy meant her no harm, having helped her a whole load in this last month. Just then though, she got a thought into her head about what her words could be interpreted as she soon offered a slightly flustered addition to her response. "N-Not like i'm trying to be rude or anything, its just we've met several times this last month, so..."

**"Ah, yes. That is indeed true... however, before I forget and we continue this conversation, I'll offer my apologies. You must have been nervous about an anonymous caller contacting you at this hour, though I didn't have much of an option..." **SHADOW began to say, before he seemed to blink as if he just remembered something which he had almost forgotten, his tone gaining a slightly apologetic factor to it. He then proceeded to take out his right hand, holding it up before her and showing... a black communication terminal. **"its mostly to do with this new comm Terminal that I got from your superiors. Lets just say them and me are 'allies' for the moment, though its on thin ice. They gave me your contact info thus, here we are."**

Ah, so THAT's how it was... Hibiki nodded her head in understanding as a sigh of relief escaped her. "Oh, so that's how it went..." she remarked, before looking back to him. "Its fine, though its a bit late... its a pleasure to work with you, SHADOW!" During her speech, Hibiki had wondered what she could say in this situation, with it being as unconventional as it was, until she decided to just throw out some politeness instead. The guy joining Division 2 or at least 'allying' with them meant that they would be closer to 'official' partners after all, so it only made sense to greet him as such.

Nodding his head towards her, SHADOW's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly, though they became a line once more a second later. **"Pleasure, Hibiki." **He stated, before glancing to the side.** "Now then, about my words from before... you were right in saying that we have indeed met before, multiple times this last month."** SHADOW began, pocketing his Communication Terminal before adding his hand to the pocket as well.** "However, what I meant by that was that we should meet as 'equals'. You do not know my true identity, but I know yours. Its time for me to change that, after all..."**

After pausing again, SHADOW closed his eyes, seemingly muttering something under his breath. What that was, Hibiki wasn't sure about, but she didn't get a chance to ask since the male just got engulfed with black flames in the following second, covering him from view and shaping themselves into a vague silhouette of himself. This didn't last very long though, only a few seconds, before the flames parted forth down the middle, vanishing out of existence afterwards to reveal SHADOW... or rather, the person BEHIND the identity known as SHADOW, and the moment that Hibiki saw this happen, her eyes shrunk into dots as her mouth fell open.

"You know my true self very well, Hibiki, since I DID give you the 'curse of the jojo' way back when..."

"Eh...? You are?! EHH?! WHA?! H-HOW?! WHAT?!"

Hibiki could only start spluttering out these words of both denial and disbelief once she saw who the person behind the moniker of SHADOW truly was, her brain temporarily blue screening as the sight proved too much for her to take in at once with how fatigued it had been previously. It WAS usually meant to be her bed time back in her dorm at the Academy, but yeah. Multiple times she tried to say something only for the words to freeze themselves when they were about to come out of her mouth, her throat feeling like it had become trapped in a vice like grip with the same feelings wrapping around her lungs and heart. It was all she could do just to BREATHE properly at this point, as the person stood there, a hand on his hip and looking at her with a rather sheepish smile on his face...

The face of one Hageshī Tairitsu (AKA Tai) by the way.

...

...

…

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…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"I… guess you have a lot of questions, huh?" Tai remarked, chuckling nervously as he scratched the side of his jaw with his right hand's index finger, the left still in the pockets of his school uniform which he still wore due to the 'business' he had to be conducting from the moment he had first left his high school. He could still feel out the faint remnants of the Black Flames which had turned him back to normal upon his will, though this didn't remain so for long, it practically felt like he was removing a layer of himself, revealing things that he didn't want others to see. Though, to be fair, donning that outfit and experiencing those powers felt so much like the opposite anyways, so it all evened out in the end.

Hibiki, after managing to regain her mental faculties, slowly nodded as a slightly hurt and betrayed expression formed on her face. A whole load of questions formed in her mind just as Tai had stated, so many in fact that she didn't even know where to start resulting in her having this conflict of emotions within her chest. "Y-You bet I do, Tai!" she finally managed to say after that intense and awkward moment of silence. As much as she felt like this though, one important fact remained prominent within her, and that was that despite him not telling her something like this, Tai DID still help her out whenever she needed it be it as himself OR SHADOW. Part of her wondered how she couldn't have seen this coming, since even as SHADOW he still acted super friendly towards her like he had known her, not to mention showed off moves which she had seen him do as Tai in the past. As such, her voice upon her following words carried all the emotions she felt inside, the anger and hurt, yet relief and joy mixing to form one complex package. "H-How did this happen? What was all that before? Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" She questioned.

Once he heard her words, Tai winced both physically and mentally, understanding full well why she would be upset like this. "Yeah, I can understand why you're upset with me, but please hear me out... #SIGH# look, to explain this all properly, I'll have to start from the very beginning, about 2 years ago after the fated Zwei Wing concert and all that." he stated, catching the girl off guard since his words pretty much stated tat this has all been set up for the last 2 years or so. "So, here, lets sit down and talk, don't worry nobody's going to hear us, I made sure that this place is isolated, not to mention I'll be able to ell if we're being watched."

With his invitation presented before her, Hibiki slowly nodded as the two of them sat atop the rooftop, allowing Tai to take a deep breath, and begin his tale... a tale 2 years in the making.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Whelp, here you go guys, the next chap of the original arc I stated previously. Sorry bout the cliff hanger there, but it had to be done since the next couple chapters will take place back in the past. You could call this a 'past arc' actually, and by the time the arc is complete, Tai will have informed Hibiki of everything which had taken place in that arc. Hopefully this arc will answer your questions about the type of Gear which Tai uses, as well as how it works and what he's been doing all this time behind most people's backs. **

**Hope you guys like this, leave a review telling me what you think, and I'll see you on the next chapter. **

**Peace Out!**


	10. Chapter 10 - How it all began

**Chapter 10 - How it all began**

**"Well... I guess I can start by saying that my life... never really calmed down by the time that I woke up after the Concert. Things may sound a little confusing at first, no wait, they'll be VERY confusing to you, but I'll try my best to explain them. Now, lets start this off..."**

* * *

"GASP!"

Eyes shot open wide, as a loud and VERY audible gasp escaped his lips. Following this action, Tai shot upwards into a sitting position, his hair hanging down from atop his head as he gazed downwards, mouth remaining open as he heaved and huffed. His breathing, as erratic and unstable it was, got accompanied by a thick level of sweat which ran down the entirety of his bare upper torso, falling downwards onto the covers concealing his legs and crotch area. A low shudder rippled down his back thanks to his upper body being suddenly exposed to the cold air around him, likely due to the heating having not kicked in yet so his house would have been a bit colder than normal.

Not like he aid this much mind though as he struggled to compose himself after what he had just experienced. "Ugh… Guh…" The teen grunted and groaned, his eyes slowly regaining their normal size whilst his breathing gradually stabilized itself into a steady rhythm, his heart slowly settling into a normal beat speed within the confines of his ribcage. "What the hell… what the heck was that…? Some kind of dream? Or, was all that a Nightmare? That Dragon… those flames… grk!" The male mumbled under his breath, before he quickly clutched the right side of his skull with his right hand, eyes closing tightly as a mix of a hiss and a grimace escaped the confines of his mouth.

A second after which he had spoken, his brain almost SCREAMED when it got assaulted by a POUNDING headache within the confines of his skull, no warning no nothing to be used as a sign beforehand. It felt like touching a heated oven ring with a bare finger and then being burned by it… only, he couldn't pull away in this case, and the feeling only got worse as seconds went by. His very BEING screamed in pain, although it would go unheard as the pain filled each of his senses. Tai even almost cried out as he tried to get out of bed, exposing his track suit bottoms until he accidentally fell over and onto the side of said bed, leaving him a groaning, clumped mess of a human being, the bed covers wrapping like a cocoon around his lower half. "Ouch… that hurts…"

Fortunately, the teen had hit his head when he'd fallen which cured his brain of the headache that had plagued it. Not so sure that would have done anything normally, actually wait no it shouldn't normally since one time, Tai had once read an article on head injuries and how long they tended to last, but hey, not like he would be complaining at the moment.

Groans escaped the teen as Tai slowly raised his arms, planting both hands on the floor of his bedroom in order to push himself upwards. His form shuddered a bit as he shook his head in an attempt to clear what remained of the cobwebs from his noggin. Afterwards, Tai set about untangling himself from his bed covers while wondering what the heck had happened to him. 'Ugh… memory's still a bit foggy from waking up, but… the last thing I recall is attending the Zwei Wing Concert…' The teen thought, though the more he untied himself and the more he thought about it, the quicker his memories returned to him. He remembered everything soon enough, from the Concert itself, to the out-of-nowhere Noise attack, the two girls who fought against them, the ensuing chaos… and then…

'Yeah… I remember that…' Tai thought as he looked towards his bedside table, where low and behold, his Necklace lay sprawled out messily, almost like it had been discarded like a useless pile of garbage. Slowly striding forth towards it, Tai picked it up and put the accessory on, so it dangled beneath his neck, allowing him to grasp its 'head' and hold it out in front of him as he gazed downwards, his grey eyes flickering with a curious yet confused light. What had happened back there… he felt sure as hell that it hadn't been a dream, he just knew it deep down in his gut, and Tai'd learned to trust his gut when it told him these things.

The memory of his talk with that black flaming Dragon.

The deal it had offered to him in exchange for the chance to finally rebel against those Noise.

This thick feeling made him think that it had been all too real, and if he wanted to confirm it for himself then he could look at the reports on the Zwei Wing Concert.

Speaking of that Concert…

'Oh shit, Hibiki!' Tai suddenly thought, eyes wide as he shot down his house's staircase and down into the living room where his Laptop was located. 'I remember how she got herself injured during all that stuff! Shit, I hope she's alright, she should have gotten some medical attention at least!' The teen thought further, fear and dread swelling within his chest like an expanded muscle.

Quickly, he opened and activated his Laptop, logging on afterwards and looking up the internet for any SPEC of news on the Zwei Wing Concert. He did so by looking up all the articles, news reports and videos surrounding the incident, learning that it had been about 3 days since the whole thing went down (which made today a Monday, something which Tai found himself fortunate for since he didn't have any lessons till the afternoon, and it was still morning), though it didn't take him long to find the answers which he had desired.

Luckily, it seemed as though there was an abundance of information about it online, something which allowed him to learn of the event's aftermath whereas he looked up who had survived and who hadn't. Some were declared MIA, such as a 'Kanade' person, but when he had finally found out how Hibiki had been counted as one of those who'd survived, he sighed in relief upon discovering her fate. It looked like she would be hospitalized for a while due to injuries, so he'd make it a point to track down the place she'd be staying for future actions, his gut telling him that things won't stay the same for her from here on, especially with what he knew about how humans tended to be towards those with greater luck than them.

'Well, I'll worry about this later, right now I should probably focus on what had happened on MY side of things…' Tai thought, heaving a heavy sigh as he sat back on his sofa, eyes close.'That Dragon… that power… what the hell was it? I know it couldn't have been fake, since I can still feel it… inside of me. I can feel it deep within my being, waiting there like some beast ready to pounce…' Tai wondered as he raised his left hand and placed it on the centre of his chest, a strong 'pulse' running through him when he did so which caused him to jump on his seat a little. 'Yeah, whatever had happened back there… something had changed, and I don't think its short term, either.'

**[Hmph, at least you've figured THAT much, brat.]**

"?!"

All of a sudden, Tai's eyes bulged open wide when, out of nowhere, the tranquil silence which had enveloped his house got abruptly disturbed. The source of the disturbance: a low, dark and deep-sounding voice with a hint of gentlemanly politeness, one which had an eerie malicious undertone which reverberated within his mind. 'Wha?! Who are-wait…!' Tai began to panic and blindly question the voice, before he then stopped himself as something came to him, a memory of the moment he had made that so-called 'contract' before everything became a blank to him. 'Alright, heads up: I'm going to go out on a limb here, and gonna say you are Vritra, the same one as the one that legends say is the arch-rival to the God Indra, am I right or am I mistaken?'

**[You would not be mistaken, brat. This mighty one is indeed Vritra as they call this one in you humans' legends, the 'Evil Dragon' who destroys all in his path! Not even that damned moron Indra could have ever HOPED to take me down, he should be lucky to be in the same ROOM as this one's presence. Though it pisses this mighty one that there's a legend which has him the victor in our bout, this one shall forgive the ignorance of your species, since that ignorance is easily a great advantage.]**

Once again, the voice, now known as Vritra, answered back to him, and judging from the tone that it used Tai guessed the Dragon's gender to be male, so he'll refer to the creature with male pronouns from now on. Not to mention that the way he spoke just now just SEEPED with arrogance and pride, something which caused Tai's brow to twitch in annoyance, nobody liked overly-arrogant asshats after all. Though, he would admit that this did adhere to some of the speculation humans had about dragons being prideful. 'They say they're prideful with some iterations in pop culture depicting them as arrogant to the extreme, like the red dragons from Dungeons and Dragons… guess we weren't that far off the mark, then…' Tai thought, although Vritra soon made it known that he could hear these thoughts.

**[Hah, humans are the arrogant ones in my eyes, brat. Calling us prideful and arrogant to the extreme makes your kind look all the worse, and you all have greater history to prove me right. You all claim to be something when in reality you're something else entirely, much like the majority of these so-called 'adults' whom you seem to despise. You all lie, cheat one another, steal, if you ask me then I would consider your kind to be the more monstrous ones around here. At least we Dragons are simplistic creatures in comparison, with our love of gifts and hoards.]**

Vritra spoke these words with a loud snort within his mind, something which caused chills to go down the teen's spine. However, Tai quickly filed away some information he had gleaned from this interaction, that apparently, they had the cliché known across entertainment media as a mental link for which they could communicate, proof being how Vritra apparently understood his thoughts without Tai realizing. Furthermore, not only did this not seem like a dream, but this didn't feel like anything akin to an AI inserted into his consciousness since he could tell there's an actual personality in this Vritra character.

'… You have a point, there.' Tai eventually replied through his thoughts, having quickly accustomed himself to doing so much to the Dragon's hidden surprise. 'Humans ARE endlessly arrogant, always taking and not giving as much as they take. Although, at least when threatened we tend to act in greater unity than normal like when the amazon rainforest caught fire and an entire country united to start planting trees there, with people online spreading the word for the rest of us to act.' He countered. 'But lets not focus much on that then, Vritra.'

**[Calling me by first name already are you, brat?]**

'I'm one of those 'arrogant humans' like you say, so what do you expect?' Tai fired back towards the Dragon, slowly accumulating some courage in talking to it. Not like he wasn't afraid of it, if he were honest then Tai'd say that he was feeling rather DEATHLY afraid at the moment. However, with his life experiences, he had LONG since learned the lesson that blindly panicking would only make one's situation worse, heck it could cause things to spiral out of control and into chaos itself, something which did NOT sound too appealing to the teen at the moment. 'Anyways, may I ask you some questions? I'd like to know what the heck is going on from your mouth, although I have some theories in my head.'

**[Born from what your kind calls 'anime and manga' I presume? Hmph, this one is impressed at some of these so-called 'theories' you've got in here, but I'll just cut to the chase: what has happened is that you've finally helped me awaken, and as such you have bonded to me, becoming my Synchrogear Wielder. You're now the first ever wielder of the Synchrogear Vritra, brat, be proud of such an accomplishment. Many have tried before you to get this far, but none have succeeded.]**

'Synchrogear?' Tai questioned, blinking several times before he looked down towards his Necklace which still lay in his left hand's palm. 'This thing? Then, would I be correct in assuming that you were once in my Necklace until now? It only makes sense since I'm getting a distinctly 'different' vibe from it right now.'

**[You would be correct, brat, and no I will not stop calling you that since compared to this great one, you are as such. Now, let me explain: Synchrogears are devices such as your Necklace which take the form of accessories as you fleshy apes would call them, Devices which house the essence of mythological monsters such as myself, or any others which 'go bump in the night'. Us Monsters must, upon encountering a potential wielder, connect with their souls to check their compatibility rates, low capability meaning the Synchrogear will not activate. if the opposite's true, then we test them through their souls, usually forming instances of weird phenomenon's such as behaviour changes and the like. In my case, those hallucinations of myself were your test, and considering our situation right now you know the results. Should they pass, which requires considerable mental fortitude, then they will advance to the second stage.]**

Huh, interesting… Yeah, Tai found himself drawn to this story as he listened to Vritra explain these specifics. He did so with great enthusiasm too, especially the parts where the Monsters themselves apparently dictate whether or not these 'wielders' can use their powers. What drew him in was the fact that the mythological monsters themselves, recorded in fragments of human legends, actually must have been real at one point, before something happened to them and now, they would be in this state. Whatever had happened there, Tai had next to no clue about it, but he remained silent in order to let Vritra know he was still listening… although judging by his tone it sounded like he wouldn't have cared regardless.

**[The second one focuses on establishing a connection with the wielder, usually through direct communication or manifestation in some manner. The wielder at this point, won't necessarily fail but it could go on for their entire lifetime as if the first attempt fails then the Synchrogear's monster keeps trying. The third and final stage is the 'Awakening' proper. At this point, the monster will attempt to talk to its wielder candidate, establishing a fully functional link. Once complete, the user will be imbued with the monster's power, becoming Synchrogear wielders. The first transformation, however, is always the most intense, as the user is locked in a 'trance' in which only their most basic instincts will guide them, making them attack anything nearby without mercy, killing them.]**

Then that would explain why Tai found parts of his memory regarding the Concert to be a blur, then. The male had read online once that apparently, most people don't recognize a trance-like state, instead they expect to become unconscious, and unless one is one in ten who can EASILY achieve the deep level trance, this isn't what the experience is actually like, not one bit. Chances are, people will remain aware of their surroundings, though this simply means one is experiencing a hypnotic level somewhere between a light and medium trance. It is different for each person, but normally as one is conditioned, they continue to go a little deeper each time until their "natural level" is attained.

In Tai's case, he had entered a deep trance state, too, retaining awareness of his surroundings, although from what Vritra spoke of it seemed as though his trance had stripped him of everything his mind possessed till all that remained were his baser instincts, which almost sounded like he had been remade or something… why did he get the feeling that thought just then had more truth to it than he initially realized?

**[Once this process is complete, then the Synchrogear Wielder will be able to activate the Synchrogear on thought command, with access to its abilities. However, this is where things change for the wielders. After going through this process, the Synchrogear's monster transforms the body of its wielder after the first activation, imbuing them with the power of 'Omnimatter'. Think of Omnimatter like these 'White Blood Cells' that you humans seem to possess, in that it can transform into anything that it wishes, only that it taken to an extreme level since it doesn't have a limit to its transformations. This results in this Omnimatter being able to reinforce the body by merging with every aspect of it, strengthening bones, muscles, fibres, flesh, everything down to the tiniest cell is enhanced to superhuman levels.]**

The answers soon came from Vritra though, and Tai FINALLY shuddered at the implications. The fact that his body had been modified to such a degree frightened the hell out of him, as evident by the paling of his skin tone, not to mention that as he looked down at his half naked self Tai realized something else thanks to this information.

His body… it looked to have transformed itself quite radically.

Well, outwardly he still could see that it was HIS body, if anything he seemed to have grown a few inches. However, internally would be another story as he ran his hands up and down his forearms, feeling like he was touching some sort of steel wall instead of actual flesh. Heck, instead of bending to the whims of his fingers, the hairs on his skin actually seemed to form their own surface, making his fingers run along the top of them instead. It looked like what Vritra had told him was true, this body he now had, it must have been remade with Omnimatter, for it felt like a body without ANY traces of stuff like fat or imperfections, instead all it had would be 100% muscle.

**[There's a lot more to the Omnimatter stuff, like how it is fuel for the powers granted by the Monster Essence, the likes of which varies from Monster to Monster, but I'll hold off on that for now, since I just dumped a whole load of information on you. Though, I will say this, a brat like you should have just interrupted me, if all that was just too much for you.]**

'Oh no, its nothing like that.' Tai responded whilst closing his laptop and making his way up towards his bedroom. The teen intended to get some exercise done, but that would be after some breakfast and getting his morning routine done. He'd been so worried about Hibiki's safety that he had forgotten what he usually did in the mornings, a testament to how much he considered her a valuable friend. She WAS the first girl whom he had ever talked to normally after all.

Tai wouldn't admit it but talking to a girl may very well be the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. 'For one, I was able to follow you just fine. I'm the kind of guy who likes to have detailed explanations of things, makes it easier for me to understand the situation. You ever heard the expression 'can't do the equation unless I have all the variables'? Its kind of like that, though I'm aware not everyone likes that. To be honest, hearing your explanations told me something about you, and that's you apparently like to talk a lot… I think we'll get along just fine on that point alone.'

Vritra didn't respond to this for now, but Tai got the feeling that his point had gotten through to the Dragon, something which he couldn't help but smile at, feeling a sense of happiness at having found a being capable of holding up a strong conversation with him. If one asked Tai on what he liked to do with people, it would be to talk to them about his opinions, views and ideals. It wasn't like he just liked hearing his own voice though, Tai wasn't that arrogant unlike a majority of politicians in the world. He liked talking, but more specifically he liked to debate, to form theories, compare and contrast them, all that stuff.

Sometimes, Tai felt that people took communication for granted, and didn't understand just how much it had evolved over the years, something which the dude made it a hobby to learn about through his online adventures. 'Heh, its funny, normal guys my age would either talk about getting girlfriends or visiting those 'raunchy' sites for their needs. And yet, here I am reminiscing about communication after talking to a disembodied voice in my head… meh, normalcy was overrated in my eyes anyways…' Tai thought to himself, chuckling whilst he rolled his eyes as he entered his bedroom, proceeding to commence his routine.

* * *

By the time that afternoon came rolling around, a uniform clad Tai had already left his house and had cleared ¾ of the way to school, intending to get there with at least 10 minutes left to spare. Walking along the sidewalk surrounded by people, the black-haired teen hummed softly to himself, his hands pocketed inside his trousers whilst his bag hung from his arm, the teen not even noticing the difference in weight distribution as he thought about what he had learned from Vritra. Said Dragon hadn't spoken to him once since the whole mass exposition earlier, which lead to Tai believing that the Dragon believed in talking to him only when the need arose, either that or he wasn't someone who talked with those whom he didn't trust. The latter made more sense to him, honestly, since Tai himself wouldn't talk to a stranger like he would to someone like let's say Chad or Hibiki for example.

Hopefully the two of them could get along in the future though, he REALLY wanted another conversation buddy to talk to for hours on end here!

Soon however, his thoughts wandered over to the approaching event known as School, and at that moment Tai's mood soured as his face twisted itself into a grimace and a scowl mixed together. Let it be said that Tai was NOT a fan of school, even after having spent a significant portion of his probation year as part of it. To him, that School didn't feel as such, nope, no the heck way. If one asked him, then he'd say that it felt more like a prison cell than anything, with the teachers there being like the prison guards and the PRINCIPAL (a disgusted shudder went down his spine upon thinking about that filth called a human being) would be the lazy ass Warden.

It reached to a point where he would have liked to only go for two reasons:

A, to get the education which was mandatory by law, not to mention one of the things he could sink himself into to distract himself from the other students who… didn't have the best relationship with him and lets leave it at that.

Then, there's B: to see his best bro Chad.

He'd even texted his good old friend Chad to see if he wanted to hang out before class started, but sadly the guy had mentioned that he had some work to attend to that he had informed the School about, so he wouldn't be in for the majority of the first-class period. This sucked in Tai's eyes, since the one tolerable thing about school in his eyes was the fact that he attended it with his one true bro. Despite being a Freshman, Tai didn't really pay much attention to that place outside of the education stuff since it bored the heck out of him, though it wasn't like he had bad grades either. Thus, he didn't get TOO MUCH flak of the teachers for his attitude, but the STUDENTS on the other hand: a whole new ball game.

Lets just say Adults weren't the only scumbags in the world and leave it at that.

'Now, if I'm not wrong then I should have some Social Studies today… then afterwards will be some maths… ugh, that means I have to deal with Mr Ushimaru in the first period…' Tai groaned in his mind as he remembered which teachers that he had in today's school session, quickly finding his sour mood to become even worse than before due to this knowledge. 'Well, hopefully today won't suck too much… oh who am I kidding, its not like me to try and be optimistic…' With this in mind, Tai slouched forwards, his shoulders dropping as he continued on his way.

* * *

Meanwhile, as he walked, Tai paid little attention to his surroundings, and as such he took a quick shortcut to his school through a back-alley way. He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, not like he would have either since he had tried to distract himself from the impending headache that would be his day in school… so when he looked up upon reaching the school building that he'd be staying in, Tai expected to see exactly that. His eyes, however, quickly registered something else ENTIRELY however, when they gazed upon NOT a school building…

But a Castle.

A LARGE castle at that.

'Wh…what…?'

Blinking owlishly, Tai gaped at the sight presented before him, his earlier musings having left his mind entirely as he gazed upon the structure.

Said structure looked to have some sort of medieval design to it, complete with tall stone walls, connected together by tall tower-like buildings which had almost cone-like heads. The rest of the structure consisted of multiple rectangular towers meshed together to form some kind of mish-mash or something, although above the 'Castle' Tai noticed that the skies above no longer had their usual blue colour, but a dark reddish pink tint to it now, not to mention the fact that there were clouds spiralling inwards towards a single point, reminiscent of a whirlpool.

Though, the skies weren't the only thing like this, in fact nearly everything around him looked like it had been splashed with fluorescent paint, the main colours being red, brown and pink of all things.

'T-The fuck...?'

Raising his left arm to his face, Tai proceeded to rub his eyes with his forearm by dragging it to and from horizontally over them, before lowering the arm to see if he had begun seeing things like when he kept hallucinating Vritra's appearance pre-Zwei Wing Concert… only thing was, the school building didn't vanish and the Castle yet remained.

'Okay… this isn't how I picture my day turning out… though to be fair the moment I woke up should have HINTED that this day wouldn't be normal…' Tai couldn't help but think to himself as he slowly proceeded forwards. 'Why the hell am I walking TOWARDS the strange Castle in the place of the School Building? Shouldn't I be heading in the OPPOSITE direction?!' the male wondered, but nonetheless his body refused to obey his brain's orders, as if it were listening to something else entirely. The Castle seemed to have its drawbridge lowered already, which already set of his internal alarm clock though due to his instinctive need to investigate this place, Tai couldn't really help himself from going forwards instead of leaving like a normal person would.

They do say curiosity killed the cat, after all.

* * *

By the time that Tai had gotten passed the drawbridge, the male found himself standing within a pretty expansive looking courtyard, one which lead to the Castle's main entrance. The said entrance looked like one large, crimson coloured set of doors, embedded into the stone walls whilst everything in his surroundings deem to… well, swerve and sway slightly like either a drunkard having had way too much at a bar or someone who'd taken some kind of hallucination-inducing drug.

Nevertheless, this Castle did NOT have a very… appealing appeal to it, at least not to him. Even when he had stared at it from outside, it gave off this feeling of… well, malice, for lack of a better word. Like it would present itself to be the worst kind of danger to him imaginable. That, and the more that he looked upon it, the more Tai felt a growing sense of disgust and revulsion from it, not knowing why though.

Standing this close to the structure though, filled the male with a pool of unease born deep within his gullet alongside the previous emotions, causing the male to gulp nervously as he looked upwards. Was it just him, or did the Castle almost seem like it were leaning forwards to tower over him, similar to tall bullies picking on smaller juniors?

'What the hell is this place…?'

Now, normally any sane person would just think this just WAY too strange and instead just try to enter through the main entrance like this weren't any big deal, however with the day that Tai had gone through so far, the teen naturally didn't think like this and instead looked for an alternate means of getting inside. Going in the front didn't seem like a good idea, both his brain and gut told him, therefore, Tai soon mentally patted himself on the back when he discovered a small little hole near the left wall.

'A hole huh? Shaped like some kind of plus sign… Doubt any construction workers even in today's era would have left something like this behind.' The male thought, walking up to it and noticing how it was just low enough for him to hop up and grab onto its bottom edge.

After doing so, Tai then proceeded to crawl his way inside, soon finding himself crawling through what he could only assume to be some kind of ventilation shaft… which could only mean that hole was intentionally placed there. What sloppy design work, Tai mused while crawling through the Shaft, feeing like every construction worker would have a FIELD DAY lecturing those who built this place.

'Whelp, on the plus side, I at least don't have to worry about school being boring…' The teen figured, rolling his eyes with a slight smile on his lips, his earlier feelings still present but having decreased to a more… 'manageable' level. For some reason, Tai felt this sense of 'thrill' rushing through him, the thought of sneaking through somewhere he wasn't supposed to be installing a sense of excitement similar to that of a vigilante, kind of like the anti-hero Daredevil. Well, Tai had always found anti-heroes more appealing along with human than normal heroes, so there was that.

It didn't take him long to reach the end of the Shaft, and like a part of him had suggested, Tai found himself seeing a patch of metallic railing barricading his way forwards, so the teen stopped his movement for the time being. 'Hmph, now if I were the one who lived in this Castle, then I would likely have some sort of guard detail set up, and in that case anything particularly 'loud' would probably alert them to my presence. Considering what I felt before, that doesn't sound very advisable…' Tai mentally noted as he held his right hand in front of him, clenching it into a fist and unclenching several times whilst pondering the way that he could use to press forwards.

After recalling what Vritra had mentioned about his current physiology, the male decided to simply test out the whole 'superhuman attribute' thing which Vritra had mentioned and used a series of chopping motions.

To be honest, Tai had some part of him which kind of doubted the things which Vritra had told him, in fact he had somewhat believed his words to be a bit of an exaggeration. Therefore, the male decided that now would be the best time as any to test his words about his body out since:

A: he was hidden from view, making it so that nobody would notice him behaving weird, leaving his public image intact.

B: Confirm the Dragon's statements about himself. If he really WAS the way that he said he was, then Tai could potentially 'test out' just how much his body had changed somewhere isolated, he knew of a few places which fit that criteria after all.

Much to his surprise though, Tai soon found himself believing Vritra fully this time when he saw how his arms practically FLEW through the air like whips, slicing through the obstacle before him and grasping the pieces before they could fall to the ground below to make any alarming sounds. 'Holy, so yeah I can DEFO say that the enhancement thing's legit, now...'

With them in hand, Tai slowly shuffled forwards, noticing that there was a set of shelves beneath him, so he rolled himself forwards, planted his right hand (after putting the stuff it had grabbed into his blazer's pocket) on it and used the momentum as a springboard, flipping him forwards through the air. There was a slight drop for the male, but it didn't mean very much to him as Tai landed like a kneeling knight on the ground.

'Heh, and once again Parkour proves itself handy for me…' Tai thought to himself victoriously, a matching smirk present on his lips as he dusted himself off, taking out the pieces from his Blazer (they barely fit into that pocket by the way so he felt relieved they didn't fall out), before placing them by the Shelves' feet. That done, the male then stood up and tried to survey his surroundings, see where the hell he had found himself.

Upon doing so, Tai soon found himself in a cube-shaped room with lines of shelves on two of its sides, each containing a variety of different books. Furthermore, the room had a series of posh looking maroon coloured tables to it, built like those one would see in a park, a line of torches along the wall which had some crimson coloured flags dangling from them. Furthermore, they had some male, masculine-looking faces on their fronts which got frozen into wide, downright creepy grins.

'Yeah... doesn't this place have a cheery, upbeat atmosphere...?' Tai wondered with his thoughts filed with sarcasm akin to paralyzing venom.

Though, something odd soon proceeded to strike him deep inside his mind, similar to a bolt of lightning. The more that he looked at this place, the more that he began to see it as... some sort of classroom? Yeah, it did seem like one, but the twisted atmosphere surrounding it did NOT feel very pleasant at all, so much so that Tai never wanted to be in a situation where he would be forced to attend classes in a room like this for as long as he lived, heck it even made him wish he were in his NORMAL classroom, something which he had thought before that would have never happened ever in his school life.

Not to mention that the crazy ass grins on those faces felt eerily familiar to him, like he'd seen that same expression elsewhere in the past, but as much as he tried to recall where he'd seen it, thanks to likely having never paid much attention in his past attendance here, Tai couldn't recall that time. Either it had been in passing, or he had just ignored it, the former being the option Tai hoped had been the right one. 'What do you think, Vritra? Any ideas about this place?'

...

...

...

...

No answer came back to him after Tai waited for a moment or two, prompting him to repeat the question several times in his mind, his eyes widening after each attempt whilst alarm bells rang inside his mind.

Normally one would expect one to be at least MILDLY curious about this place, and Tai's current situation made him think this as a necessary case for Vritra to talk to him, but the fact that he didn't really threw him for a loop. Just what the hell was going on here?

That was what the teen thought as he made his way to the room's sole exit, opening it and pushing through, finding himself outside and into a long corridor. Much like the tiled floor that the so-called 'Classroom' had, the corridor had the same tiling, whereas to the left it lead to a dead end which only possessed a bookshelf, a lamp on top of it and a one-seat comfy looking chair.

On the opposite side of the entrance to the 'Classroom', Tai saw another intricate-looking ornamental doorway, one which looked to be locked according to his careful analysis. 'Well, can't go that way, then...' the male thought as he turned to the right, finding himself looking at hat looked to be the way to a rather spacious looking area. 'I guess the only place left for me is to go this way... better pay attention though, with the eeriness I'm feeling right now, I'd rather NOT meet anyone who lives in this place, I DID just break into this place illegally after all.'

Just as he made to take a step forwards though...

Trouble struck.

"Grk!"

A sharp sound broke out of his mouth like a prison break going on inside of him, as Tai hissed through gnashed teeth and grasped the side of his head. What felt so much like a 'pulse' ran through his body from the head downwards, causing the teen to wobble from side to side as his vision began to sway back and forth. Everything around him looked like it had begun to spin out of control, what little thinking power he still retained barely registering these changes. 'Wha… what the...?' the teen thought as creepy black dots filled his vision, multiple angry howls filling his mind like the screeches of a furious banshee, nearly making Tai cry his heart out had he any less willpower than his current self possessed.

In the end though, despite his admirable efforts, Tai eventually lost the battle to remain in the land of the conscious, and as a result he fell onto one knee and then onto his side, his arms sprawled out in front of him as darkness finally claimed his consciousness.

He DID see something metallic approaching him before conking out, however.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Yeah, sorry bout that, this cliff hanger was something I was kind of torn on deciding to do or not, but in the end I went with this option, mostly because I feel like there's a lot of stuff revealed in this chapter already, enough for you all to start pondering and theorizing. Now, I wonder which among you might have guessed the inspiration I'm taking towards this arc of mine? I may end up giving the person who guessed correctly a shoutout in the next chapter when it comes.**

**As for the Arc itself, whilst it can be called a flashback arc, this Arc will showcase how Tai came into being as a Synchrogear Wielder, the struggles he had to deal with and the events which shaped him into the beast known as SHADOW to Division 2 and Tsubasa. You could say this is the start of HIS journey, not Hibiki's. This is something I was intending to do from the start, and if any of you understand the inspiration you might be able to see the hints I dropped in previous chapters featuring this guy. I'm going to show just how he became as powerful as he was, as well as show what Tai does on a daily basis for the next 2 years whilst he keeps it mostly to himself. I'm explaining it in this way because there's a lot of ground to cover, and I want to build things up for the future with this being the best way for me to do so. It will also showcase just how Tai and Vritra came into their current relationship and what defines it, not to mention it showcases some extra character traits for both these beings, the ones on Tai's end actually having quite the significance to his backstory. I'll reveal that in time, but lets just say I'm going tot try and make him have actual depth as a person, since that's my core belief regarding people these days: they're all so unnecessarily complex with their own thoughts, emotions and beliefs. **

**Hopefully, you all like this and won't bash me too hard for the cliffhanger, though considering how people think of them that's likely a pipe dream similar to seeing Harem MC's actually show wholesome care and affection to their girls. **

**Whelp,**

**Peace Out!**


	11. Chapter 11 - SHADOW Eminence

**Chapter 11 – SHADOW Eminence**

**[…Oi…]**

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

**[…Oi, brat, wake up…]**

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

**[…OI, BRAT! WAKE THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW, YOU STUPID MORTAL!]**

"Guuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh…"

Slowly, the sound of groaning erupted from his mouth as Tai' consciousness slowly roused itself from its slumber, his eyes tightening in their closed state before they gradually proceeded to open with the speed of garage doors. At first, they didn't remain open for very long as the distorted colours and twisted imagery acted similar to a bright flash, causing them to close once more along with a sharp grimace that had formed on his features.

However, through some repeated attempts the teen's eyes permanently opened after the 5th attempt, his vision now clear to him thanks to the prickly sensations in his sockets having left them. Several twitches from various parts of his body soon followed, before he pushed himself out of the prone position which he had been in and assumed a sitting position.

Holding the side of his head, the male felt a distinct sense of de ja vu right now, and for some reason he couldn't point out the source of this. 'Ugh… somebody got the nameplate of that truck…?' the teen questioned in his mind, why his mind the male wouldn't have been able to answer since it had been a randomized action. Plus, he had just woken up from what seemed to have been some kind of visit to the unconscious land, so his brain hadn't fully kicked it into gear yet.

Though, in the end Tai remembered the reason himself with time, causing his eyes to narrow despite having just recently opened. 'This feels SO much like how my morning went…' the teen thought as he slowly raised his head to look around, only to find himself stunned into silence.

One thing that became obvious to him, once his mind fully awoke with his memories returning to the forefront of his being, was that he must likely still be trapped inside this strange 'castle' that he had discovered prior to this situation. The whole distorted wavy and hallucination like appearance everything around him pretty much confirmed this along with the second thing which Tai noticed, though this next one caused him to feel no small amount of chills go down his spine.

No longer was he in the middle of the corridor, but instead a medieval style dungeon cell. One mixed with a torture chamber kind of feel at that, what with all the cuff chains hanging down from the pipes horizontally across the walls and stuff. There were a couple barrels next to the cell's main exist, a barred gate made out of metallic bars, locked from what Tai had been able to guess from his analysis. What he had been lying on seemed to be a wooden brown bench served as a bed with a matching rag for bed covers, prompting the male to start stretching his joints to get rid of any unpleasant aches.

'Geez, no wonder my shoulders are so stiff…' Tai remarked to himself whilst grasping his shoulder and rolling its arm, wincing at the aches which he felt inside as he stood up from the bench. Looking around, Tai didn't see many ways out of this situation, not when the only exit turned out to be that locked cell gate, so perhaps he should go take a look? See what's on the other side? By the time that he reached the gate to peer outside, Tai made to do so, though…

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! HUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"?!"

The said male suddenly and abruptly jumped back in shocked alarm when he heard the sounds of two tortured screams belonging to two males, judging from their vocals. Sounded like they weren't too far off from him either, but nonetheless they both shook the teen's core with how brutalized they sounded.

His eye sockets widened outwards and his irises shrunk to the size of dots, his mouth pressing its lips firmly together to form a line whilst a bead of sweat got built up on his forehead. 'What the?! Oh shit, was that what I think it was?!' the teen shouted mentally, making to go try and peak out of his Cell to see if he could find out where the hell those screams came from.

**[I wouldn't do that if I were you… thanks for waking up when I told you to the THIRD time by the way…]**

"Guh!" Tai stopped what he had been attempting when he heard the all too familiar and gruff sounding voice of the Monster he had been partnered with, the Evil Dragon Vritra. The Dragon did NOT sound happy in the slightest, heck he sounded just downright irritable… more so than normal, actually. If anything, he sounded actually pissed off right now, something which unnerved the black-haired male if he were honest.

'Vritra!' he called out to his… tenant? Inner occupant? Tenant sounded like the best way for him to describe their relationship right now, yeah, Tenant and Vessel. 'What the heck happened to you? I guess you have different standards for necessary communication, but I tried to call you before but never got an answer.'

**[Be silent, brat! You're pointless idiocy and senseless curiosity is what got us into this fucking mess in the first place!]**

Vritra yelled this back at him with thunderous booming sounds resonating throughout Tai's mind, but after a few seconds of silence as the two seethed for their own reasons, the Dragon grunted and sighed at the same time. Then, he proceeded to speak again, a mix of fury and humiliation within his tone.

**[It was out of our control, as much as it pisses me off to admit this. I did not expect you to come into contact with an enemy so quickly, nor an enemy of this scale either, thus when you did so a 'special trait' of the space you're in right now temporarily severed our mental connection before I could react in time. You have ZERO idea how much I raged when this happened, to insult a mighty Dragon such as myself like this is testament to incineration! I had to spend a LOT of time breaking through to finally re-establish this link, a tedious affair which has left me at my wits end! As some of you humans say, I'm way too old for this shit! Believe me, if you get the chance, knock the lights out of the one who severed the connection for me, but for now you better be prepared. We're getting some unhappy visitors soon.]**

"Huh? What do you…?"

Before Tai could question his Tenant on what the heck he had been talking about, the male's ears twitched when he heard the sound of heavy, clunky footsteps, ones not unlike ones which were covered by something large, bulky and metallic like a suit of Armour. Tai remembered hearing sounds like this whenever he watched medieval movies involving knights in full plate armour.

Quickly retreating back towards the makeshift bed behind him, Tai then proceeded to sit down and await these arrivals, in his mind the male would have rather NOT met any of this place's inhabitants, but thanks to his current state he believed this to be an inevitability at this point. Therefore, unlike what he had originally intended which had just been to explore this place and see where it had come from, Tai now wished to see what the people residing in this place were like.

Though, when he finally saw said 'people' come into view as they walked into the viewing range of his cell, Tai quickly changed his tune. Approaching from the side, came several massive hunks of metal shaped like Knights, although their upper torsos spotted disproportionately small limbs in comparison whilst instead of just helmets, each of the so-called 'knights' had these large, creepy looking blue face-like Masks on with a helmet surrounding their 'heads'. Each of them carried for weapons: a simple longsword and a large kite shield easily able to cover their fronts if they were put in front of them.

One of them soon approached the entrance to the cell, holding its Longsword in hand as it pointed said weapon towards the teen's face.

**_"_****_Be grateful that your punishment has been decided so quickly, intruder. If you had been around for merely a few seconds longer, your sentence would have been even worse." _**The Knight spoke, and the moment it did Tai quickly concluded that he did NOT like it, not one bit. The way it spoke sounded so… dull, void of anything similar to a machine or some sort of puppet under someone else's string. What's worse, to him anyways, was that it sounded so… inhuman, like it was void of anything resembling humanity, making Tai wonder if he were standing before some kind of literal 'monster' or not. **_"Your charge is "unlawful entry". Thus, you shall be sentenced to death."_**

'Yup, gut feeling was right, I DEFINITELY shouldn't have met with the people in this place!' Tai thought internally as he hid his own explosion of anxiety deep within his stomach. 'What the hell's up with this place and acting like it's still something like the freaking medieval period?! First this Castle, now the Cells looking like torture chambers, and now death sentences?! What the hell is going on in this place?!'

Yeah, one could say that internally Tai's confidence had slowly started to break down as he fought back the urge to break into a cold sweat again, having cleared the prior sweat away earlier. Outwardly however, the male hid his expression behind his Glasses, something which he had almost forgotten were still on his face due to everything that had happened. He didn't want them to know how much their words had caught him off guard, he wouldn't give them that satisfaction.

**_"_****_NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO DO AS THEY PLEASE IN MY CASTLE!"_**

Just as Tai made to say something in retort to the Knight's statement, one involving no small amount of curse words and insults to the thing's intelligence for 'being behind the times', the teen heard another voice, this one filled with arrogant sickness which the male had lumped in with the majority of adults he'd encountered.

The moment that he heard it, the teen wanted to rush out the Cell and kick the owner in the balls, even though he hardly knew much about the person to begin with, almost like it were an instinct. Tai theorized that this was likely due to Vritra since he could hear the Beast inside him growling within the back of his mind, utter fury laced within said noise as the voice's owner leisurely approached the Cell gate. The Knights parted ways for the owner similar to how Moses parted the red sea in his story, and the moment that they did, Tai's eyes nearly flew open this time.

'The FUCK?! What the heck's with this guy and his goddamn awful fashion sense?!' the male exclaimed upon seeing a middle-aged man now standing before the Gate to his Cell, looking down at him with a smug, cocky grin on his face which seemed VERY similar to the one on the flags of that room before. Tai figured that either the guy had some sort of grinning fetish, or he was the exact same person on those said flags… for the same of logic, he felt willing to go with the latter.

The guy had this long black unkempt hair kept under a large crown of sorts, one large enough to nearly cover his head completely. Instead of giving off a sense of royalty though, Tai got the exact opposite feeling, that it was trying way too hard to be glamourous to the point that it became sickening to look at. He sported these thick eyebrows too, all whilst sporting a broad, square jawline. Not to mention that he looked to be at least in the upper ranges of the 6-foot category in terms of height, making him way taller than Tai himself which the guy seemed to use in his 'high and mighty' posture at the moment. Over his shoulders, he wore a red heart printed cape which he used like a coat, concealing the majority of his upper body.

Then, there were his eyes… and what the hell were those EYES?! Not only did they not have any natural colour like green or brown, but instead they were coloured GOLD of all things, lighting up with an eerie glow about them which reminded Tai of an alley cat prowling back alleyways at night until it caught sight of its prey. There was hardly any pupil in either of them too, just a small dot like how Tai had been before.

But what caught Tai's attention and, by extension, his revulsion the most was the fact that he LITERALLY wore nothing under that cape of his, aside from a pink speedo which REALLY didn't fit him in the male's eyes. He could tell this due to the slight movements the Cape made during the guy's motions, though the fact that he had some hairy ass legs tucked into some large red shoes also contributed to the disgusted factor.

Tai had one reaction:

"Eugh, gross! Dude, I can't even…! What the heck, man?!" The male exclaimed loudly and resulting in his words catching everyone off guard, making it a point to hop over the bed so he could back himself up against the wall behind it. Trying to put as much distance between him and the adult as possible, of course, with his expression twisted to express the emotions which he felt inside. "Nobody wants to see those ugly ass gorilla legs of yours, alright?! Seriously, HOW is that a fashionable outfit?!" Tai shouted as he pointed a shaking finger at the man, said appendage trembling as the owner struggled to contend with the urge to draw it back lest it become 'tainted' somehow.

**[… Brat?]**

"Yeah, Vritra?"

**[… I will teach you how to use my power just this once, just burn that abomination to cinders.]**

"Gladly."

…If even a Monster like VRITRA sounded as disturbed and repulsed as he did when looking at this man, that should speak more volumes than words alone ever could.

Meanwhile on the other side, the man and his Knightly escort finally recovered themselves from their previous stupor, the first being the man himself. **_"YOU… DARE…!"_** Though, this wouldn't be ending peacefully as the man's face shifted into one of fury and malice, his teeth gnashing together as he looked upon the grey-eyed teen with absolute venom. **_"HOW DARE YOU… YOU BARGE INTO 'MY' CASTLE UNINVITED, AND NOW YOU HAVE THE GALL TO MAKE A MOCKERY OF 'ME': ITS 'KING'!"_** He bellowed angrily as the man gestured to one of the Knights guarding him. **_"OPEN THIS PEASANT'S CELL GATE! WE SHALL PAUSE THE EXECUTION AND PROCEED WITH PREPARATIONARY TORTURE!"_** he declared, stepping back to allow the same Knight to do as it were ordered to.

"Hey, just for the record: I ain't seeing no so-called 'king' around here! All I see is some dumbass-looking dude who has some messed up fashion sense priorities!" Tai called out mockingly all the while keeping a mental ear out o listen to what Vritra told him about these powers he now apparently had. All the while he made sure to keep some attention focused on the slight clinking sound of locks being undone by that Knight. Those Keys would be his ticket out of this place, after all. "Just wanting to point that out there!"

**_"… _****_HURRY THE FUCK UP!"_**

After approaching and using some keys to unlock the Cell Gate, the Knight got further prompted by a furious yell from it's apparent 'King'. It then proceeded to kick the Gate open, letting its buddies file inside in an orderly manner before the man went in last, closing the gate and locking it afterwards to leave Tai trapped inside this Cell with these adversaries. Adversaries who currently radiated a BUNCH of bloody murderous intent which got focused in Tai's way.

Not exactly a thrilling atmosphere, huh?

Snapping his fingers, the man who called himself a King watched as 2 Knights proceeded to grasp onto Tai by the shoulders and pin him roughly against one of the walls, holding him in place by restraining his hands with the chains dangling lifelessly there. Once everything got put into place, the man grabbed a sword from one of his Knights, then proceeded to step forth towards Tai and raised the sword up like holding a Dagger.

**_"_****_LEARN YOUR PLACE AND REPENT, PEASANT!"_**

STAB!

The sword impaled Tai right onto his shoulder, digging deep into the said body part as the man wriggled it around to make as much blood squirt as possible. Expressing wild glee on his face, the man laughed maniacally, losing any trace of composure and calmness that he could have expressed before in favour of hacking away at Tai's body… although he managed to avoid all the vital areas in favour of making this 'torture' session as long as possible. Though, sometimes he'd get a LITTLE too close for comfort to areas such as his manhood or his adam's apple, but those were more for an intimidation factor, if anything.

All the while, the male remained calm as all fuck, just blankly staring towards them without flinching.

**_"_****_OH? TRYING TO REMAIN CALM, ARE YOU? MUST BE TOUGH, SUFFERING ALL ALONE AT THE HANDS OF YOUR SUPERIOR…"_**

Not too long into the torture, the man finally took notice off the expression which Tai sported, leaning in close till their faces were inches apart from one another. Their eyes met one another in a locked gaze, and if this were a BL manger then one would guess PRETTY well what would have happened next. Fortunately, that wasn't the case here, as the man's face shifted into one of disgust and anger.

**_"_****_THAT LOOK IN YOUR EYES IRRITATES ME!"_**

Apparently unable to stomach the face which Tai had been born with, the man stepped back and delivered a kick to the guy's gut as hard as he possibly could. Now, since that place had already suffered some deep injuries already, the moment that the kick landed it would have resulted in a HUGE spike in pain, like a constant sting from thousands of vicious wasps or something similar. However, all Tai did was bend over and drop his Glasses from his face, letting the said accessories fall onto the floor. Afterwards, the man took a step backwards before tossing the sword offhandedly in a dismissive manner towards the Knight it originally belonged to.

**_"_****_I'VE GROWN BORED OF THIS GARBAGE… EXECUTE HIM AT ONCE, THEN THROW THIS GARBAGE OUT."_**

With that declaration, the Knights quickly proceeded to act: two of them placing their swords under Tai's neck, kind of like an x, in order to make him lift his head up. Then, the third Knight stepped forwards, sword raised for the killing blow…

BA-BUMP!

FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

… Only, for Tai to suddenly gaze up into the Knight's eyes as a pulse of energy shot through him, erupting forth out of his being in the form of a rippling shockwave mixed with a burst of wind. The Shockwave blew the Knight backwards, making it stumble in that direction whilst forcing the rest of them to cover their eyes to project said areas from the winds, thus not seeing how it caused Tai's hair to flutter wildly as if he were on a berserker rampage.

By the time the wave and winds died down, the first one to lower their arms turned out to be the man himself, his golden eyes wide with momentary confusion as he glanced back towards the 'prey' that he had caught. In one second, he had seen him as nothing more than a broken toy that couldn't withstand his 'fun', but in the following one a shiver or pure TERROR overtook him which forced his golden eyes to shrink to a smaller size, his jaw dropping down as much as it was allowed.

**(Play Persona 5 OST – Awakening)**

In front of him, Tai's face had begun to steam, several trails rising up to touch the ceiling above. Though, the grey-eyed male didn't look bothered by it one bit, as instead he hung his head low and slouched forwards, the two Knights who had their weapons under his neck before having been blown away by the shockwave. Then, he did two things, gaze towards his tormentors with his eyes having completely transformed, becoming eerily glowing crimson with pupils becoming slitted, all the while Tai finally spoke two words, two simple words which heralded the following nightmare for the rest of the Cell's occupants: "Incinerate… [VRITRA]!"

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

At once, the steam trails expanded as Tai's entire head caught fire, black fire to be more precise as it erupted into existence with a mighty roar. The flames started with the sides of his face, then proceeded to spread across the upper portion, then the rest of his head until the last thing which remained before being covered was the wide, downright maniacal, smile which the teen had sported. All the while a loud, draconic and monstrous cackle echoed through the air space around them, the flames quickly travelling down the male's form and covering it with their appearance till he looked like a humanoid black flame. This happened in about a second by the way, resulting in the male stepping forwards and leaning downwards slightly, two glowing crimson eyes opening up where his sockets would have been. Its also only to be expected that once the flames covered his arms, they melted both the chains themselves as well as the Pipe they were connected to, hence why he had been able to perform his previous actions.

Then, an offshoot of the black flames rose up from behind Tai's hunched person, looming over him like a massive spectre or a ghost with the clinking sounds of chains ringing out from their location. Thanks to this, the male's form got revealed to the onlookers, his form having changed appearances thanks in no small part to the flames themselves. The first thing that they took note of would be the three coattail-tipped Long Black hooded coat, with its high collar fluttering behind him, along with the waistcoat, gloves pants and boots following suit. Two eerily crimson eyes lit up the darkness within his hood, looking reminiscent of a freaking MONSTER rather than something human.

As for the Spectre itself, it took on the form of a massive, black bipedal dragon, sporting two reverse jointed legs, a set of long arms with claws for hands and feet, a humanoid torso, a long neck as well as a streamlined draconic head which sported two glowing hollow crimson eyes. The Dragon also sported two MASSIVE wings and an absurdly long tail, though further features couldn't be identified thanks to it being made of the black flames, though soon that no longer remained top priority as the Dragon glanced down at the transformed state Tai had found himself in.

**(OST END)**

**(Play Persona 5 OST – Willpower)**

**[You know me well, wielder, the Evil Dragon of ultimate destruction: VRITRA!] **

The flaming dragon declared this with a massive, mighty bellow, flaring out its infernal wings as its Tail slapped the ground behind them. This action also brought about a minor earthquake-like tremor which spread throughout the entire area, the creator's presence sending eerie chills down the Knights and the Man's spines.

**[Let us show these pathetic excuses for living beings the error of their ways. The price they must pay for insulting the PRIDE OF A DRAGON!]**

**"Heh… I actually like the sound of that…" **Tai replied with a draconian style grin, one which showed off his pearly white teeth whilst his voice seemed to have become a mix, a mix between his own as well as the Dragon above him. Holding out his right hand, the male remembered the 'copious' amounts of information given to him as he flexed said appendage, a mass of black fire erupting within his palm. To him, Tai had never seen something more beautiful as said flames at this moment… though, the absolutely scared shitless look that man sported definitely looked sweet. **"So then… shall we see what happens when Kings become too naughty, phony?"**

**_"TCH… I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN…! GUARDS!" _**

Instead of just fighting back or taking the incoming punishment like a man, this so-called 'King' stepped back a few times to allow his Guards to get up and take their spots in front of him. As much as he wanted to scowl and rage at this development, the teen didn't let it get to him as he stepped forwards, the flame in his hand growing bigger whilst the Dragon Spectre behind him readied itself. Tai at first expected them to start moving forwards and attack him as they were, however to his slight surprise he soon got proven wrong when they all started hovering before him and held their heads upwards to the ceiling, before they… they just exploded into piles of black goo.

'Okay, that's just gross… then again, I've been seeing a few gross things today, so its probably some kind of trend.' The hooded teen thought, narrowing his crimson eyes… then they widened Tai watched as each of the goo piles suddenly shot upwards, forming what looked like bodyparts… until a series of creatures now replaced those piles. 'Whoa, now THESE don't look like noise…'

Indeed, for floating before him turned out to be a squadron of 8 creatures with pumpkins for heads, sharp features on their fronts to mimic actual ones too so they kind of look like what one might see on Halloween. They also had two large white hands, one of them holding a Lantern which carried burning lights within them. Aside from that, all they had would be long, tattered black cloaks. Their eyes glowed with two eerie, golden lights to them too as they floated in a semi-circular formation, their Lanterns starting to glow brighter than before.

All the while, the cape-wearing man just snickered mockingly at him, stepping towards the gate to the Cell at the same time. **_"Now, taste the true STRENGTH of my men!" _**He declared… all before hightailing it out of there like a little bitch.

'Tch, and I wanted to immolate that guy's crotch, so his cancerous fashion sense didn't spread…' Tai thought with his eyes narrowed in annoyance as he watched the guy go. Well, watched wasn't the exact way to describe his actions since he DID toss the flame in that guy's path in an attempt to hit him… only it just barely hit the gate instead, melting it rapidly as if thousands of tiny mouths were quickly feasting on it till the flames vanished, leaving nothing behind. 'Well, at least now I don't have to worry about escaping, plus that cliché villain line was cringy as all hell…' the male thought further before turning to the freaking 'Jack-o-lantern' looking motherfuckers in front.

**[Remember: detest the enemies before you. Change that animosity into Power. And UNLEASH IT!]**

Upon Vritra's words, Tai swung the arm which had its hand form another flame, launching a long streak of flame towards his opponents. Said opponents launched their own orangish coloured fireballs back at the attack, resulting in them colliding with one another between them. This resulted in the two attacks negating one another, leaving nothing behind to remind the onlookers of their existence, although Tai didn't care about that and neither did the pumpkin headed beings. They instead just continued their battle.

**[Swing your blade!]**

When the Pumpkin beings launched another round of fireballs in one successive movement, Tai quickly swung his left arm this time, having covered his entire appendage in his black flames and elongated them so that his wrist had a long, fiery blade protruding out from it. This had the effect of releasing a long arc in front of him, an arc made from the same flames that composed the blade which resulted in the fireballs being negated. Bending his legs, Tai didn't let the enemy get another chance to attack once more, knowing how fast those things seem to be able to fire as he quickly launched himself forwards, becoming a blur whilst the Dragon Spectre flew forwards as well, as if it were mimicking him.

Once close enough, Tai quickly swung his blade in a reverse upward slash, completely bisecting one of the Pumpkin beings straight up the middle, the wound being one made from his flames which quickly spread over the creature, its dying howls filling the air as it quickly got devoured by them. Tai managed to get their numbers down to half, so 4 basically, through similar moves before he had to jump back to avoid several fiery streaks, his blade vanishing as well before he landed where he had stood at the fight's beginning.

**[Hmph, decent enough. Now that this meagre level of my power is yours, kill these fools however you want! Run wild to your heart's content!]**

**"No need to tell me twice, Vritra!" **Tai bellowed back, before he got an idea which could potentially finish this fight in one move. For as much as he liked to boast that he had finally started dominating the fight, it seemed as though things wouldn't be that way for long for a multitude of reasons. One, it seemed that conjuring the Spectre above him seemed to thoroughly drain his power at a rapid speed, almost as fast as the flames that he's been using. He could already feel something straining in his mind, causing him to have to hold back the urge to grimace as headaches pounded away at his skull. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer, and then there was the potential for reinforcements to arrive thanks to speedo bastard having escaped. **"In this case…!"**

Holding up his right hand, Tai mentally reached out to the Spectre through the link which connected it to his being, mentally executing an order through that very same link. Having received its order, the whole construct reared itself backwards, slowly but surely growing more and more unstable by the second if the whole madly twitching thing it started doing was any indication. Sensing the impending danger, the pumpkin beings started to act by gathering up fire in their lanterns, intending to bombard the male before he could complete whatever it was that he was doing.

Sadly for them though, this proved to be a failure when the male proceeded to bring his arm downwards, the massive dragon construct letting out one final roar before it condensed itself, becoming a large ball of pure black fire which then shot forth like the streak he had launched earlier, wrapping around his arm like a serpent before merging with it, resulting in Tai having a HUGE ass left arm in proportion to his right by the time that he slammed it onto the ground.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

**(OST END)**

At the point of impact, the whole Cell lit up in black flames, which consumed EVERYTHING around the male to leave nothing untouched by their grasp, be it objects like the bed and remaining chains, or the squealing pumpkin beings as they drew their last dying breaths. By the time the flames vanished, the entire cell looked hardly lone one anymore, in actuality it looked more like the depths of a volcano or something along those lines, a heavy feeling of scorching heat lingering in the atmosphere as the sweet smell of charcoal filled his nose. Tai himself however, visibly smiled at the feeling, even if his smile looked a bit strained as the strain on his mind nearly caused him to fall over, only for the teen to use a wall as support by placing his right hand on it, the left holding the left side of his head. All the while, a thumping sound constantly slammed into the interior of his skull like an onslaught from a jackhammer…

Meh, worth it, he thought.

**[Hmph, a decent job for a first timer. Although know this, whilst you have little control or prowess with the current level of my power you can use right now, this isn't even the START of its full potential. My flames could have EASILY reduced this entire DUNGEON area into nothingness if they were trained properly.]**

'Yeah-Yeah, boast about your power, lord Vritra the great, but could you do so later? As in, after we get the fuck out of here? Cause right now, we're not exactly safe at the moment, and likely we won't be until we reach the outside of this so-called 'Castle' to get back to the real world.' Tai questioned, grimacing as Vritra's voice unintentionally created spikes in his headache, making it all the worst whilst the teen stumbled his way out of the cell in order to begin looking for a way out.

**[… Very well. This one will guide you since this one has been analysing this place's interior for a while now. By that, we're talking about when you were still unconscious earlier, those things literally dragged you here across the ground like a common garbage bag.]**

… Well, that's one reason why he shouldn't feel guilty about reducing those creatures to nothing then. Though he had a BUNCH of questions again that needed to be answered, and it seemed that Vritra had answers to some of them, Tai didn't want to think about that now, not when he had other priorities in mind. He'll brainstorm a few theories when he got back, right now escaping would be his highest priority.

Thus, that became what he did next.

* * *

**"After that initial confrontation, I had to fight my way out of an underground Dungeon-like area and let me tell you Hibiki, that place felt more akin to a death-trap with how many so-called 'Guards' there were. Felt like being in the middle of an anthill honestly, but it did help me get some ideas on how my powers worked and their limitations. Anyways, it took me a while, but I did eventually manage to escape that place, which turned out to transform into the school right afterwards. Don't worry, I'm getting to that explanation soon enough…"**

* * *

After having escaped the Castle, Tai so didn't want to bother with School, however since going was mandatory by law he had no other option. As such, the male had to heave his heavy bones (and infuriatingly aching head) through yet another day of school, this one consisting of a lesson with Ushimaru the Social Studies teacher that he'd mentioned before… one whom apparently had a thing for physical violence in an ironic twist since any student whom he saw wasn't paying attention to his lectures got some chalk thrown at their faces. Never seemed to run out of those damn things either, and whilst Tai did believe there were rules against using physical violence on students, Ushimaru was an adult and they tended to twist the rules into their favour.

There WAS some mention about tomorrow afternoon being taken up by a Volleyball rally hosted by the teachers though, something which the male ignored for now.

Fortunately, math wasn't as bad partially due to the teacher, Mrs Usami, actually being competent in her job and a lot more tolerable than the former, but in the end that was pretty much it. It could have been better if Chad were with him due to how much more bearable it was in school with him around, but hey one can't have what they want all the time.

By the time that school ended, Tai very nearly FLEW back along his route back home, not minding the looks directed at him by the student body. He didn't really care anymore about the comments and the generally disdainful atmosphere they generated whenever he showed up near them, not since he had more important matters than a bunch of brainless sheep who only follow the juiciest of gossip without thinking for themselves. If anything, their behaviour could be classed as pitiable, not like he cared much though especially with the events that he had gone through today. Though once he eventually got home, Tai swore to himself on the train to grill Vritra for some answers, the Evil Dragon had implied that he knew more about what was going on than Tai himself did after all, and he did not like that.

When he finally did get back home, Tai made it a point to change out of his uniform and into his tracksuit bottoms before proceeding to make something to eat. Nothing much, just a tuna sandwich and some lettuce with a drink of orange juice, all in order to tidy him over till teatime arrived since he didn't know what he'd be having today. Once he had prepared everything, the male sat down in his living room, the cushions of his sofa bending under the weight imposed onto them as he grasped the nearby remote on the sofa's arm rest, before turning on the TV.

**[You not going to try forcing this one to answer your questions, brat?]**

'You make it sound like I'm some sort of dumb, impatient idiot, Vritra.' Tai countered when he heard his Tenant's voice, all before going onto the TV's Planner section and putting on a show which he had recorded in the morning that he had found interesting. Once he put the recording to just before the show started, Tai put the remote down and crossed his arms, proceeding to eat his sandwich that way after putting his drink beside his feet. 'True some answers would be nice and I'd definitely not rest till I'd gotten them out of you, but I'd rather they be given under some decent circumstances.'

**[Hmph, do as you please. Before we start, this one wishes to know what it is you are watching.]**

'Simple: its called Almost human, an American sci fi/crime drama. Quite good if you ask me, but I'll leave the show up to your standards…' Tai replied, summarizing the show's synopsis for the Dragon in his mind. In essence, Almost Human focused on a futuristic time period similar to their current one where, in 2048, the uncontrollable evolution of science and technology has caused crime rates to rise an astounding 400%. To settle this problem, officers were paired with life-like combat androids identical to humans, though the MC John Kennex isn't too fond of this idea. As a detective, he can't help but comply though he has reasons to not like them since 2 years prior he'd tried to save his injured partner during an ambush, only for the logic-based android to abandon them both. Not only did his partner die, but he also lost a leg to the whole incident.

Tai liked these sorts of shows, especially police and detective dramas since it kept him on his toes and engaged his brain in making theories about what had happened and how it had done so. The characters too were quite enjoyable, especially with the Android the MC got paired with due to how much of a troll he tended to be whilst still retaining a decent efficiency. Him and Chad sometimes watch these kinds of shows together, even if the male sometimes felt that the big dude couldn't follow along so he would have to explain things to him by the end of the episodes. Tai didn't mind honestly though, since it helped his bro get a better grasp on things and he liked explaining things to others anyways. Once the episode finished (to which Vritra expressed his opinion, calling it 'decent entertainment for dumb hairless monkeys' though the teen had to summarize it with... more polite language) though, Tai decided to get the ball rolling after turning the TV off and finishing his snack, drink included. 'Now that that's over, can we talk about what happened?'

**[Yes, indeed. This one deduced for a while now that its likely you won't be able to avoid that hellish place no matter how much I goad you. Instead let us start from the beginning, as you might have guessed, what we encountered was the result of another Synchrogear user in that school.]**

'Yeah, that's easy to figure out...' Tai responded, going over the facts in his mind. That idea had been one of the few theories in his mind regarding that, not to mention that it kind of made sense since coincidentally he had JUST come out as a Synchrogear user himself. Encountering another one on the same day seemed like a stroke of bad fortune, but if the teen were someone who let something as minor as that stop him then he would have just been killed off long ago. 'Feels like this one works a little differently to you, though.'

**[You would not be wrong, monkey. The Synchrogear that I detected seems to work... similar to a 'provider' you could say, like an organisation dedicated to serving the needs of one specific individual. It focuses on creating a barrier around a specific location, the school in this case, and converting it into whatever the user saw it as. In this case, the user saw himself as the 'king of the castle' thus that is what the barrier created. You could call it his 'Palace' if you will. As for what this one went through, the Palace tried to isolate you and render you immobile, due to you being an intruder, hence why you didn't hear from this great Dragon here.]**

Huh... in that case, Tai considered the severing of his connection to his Tenant like the usage of an EMP Burst, one intended to short circuit his connection to Vritra. Not to mention that since that was the case, then this 'Palace' as Vritra had called it may as well be some sort of sentient or at least semi-sentient organism. He'd be willing to say it was the latter though, moreover if the fact that it did this was any indication then it obviously must have seen Vritra as a threat before that man, the seeming-to-be 'king' even realized it himself. To be frank, Tai could see why considering the damage that they had left in their wake. 'Then I guess that meant the outfit I wore...'

**[Yes, the Synchro Jacket as its called. Just think of it like a second skin layer which is made from your ideal image of yourself, meant to both allow your powers to manifest as well as protect you against things like interference from Palaces. For example had you seen yourself as a pirate, the Synchro Jacket would have a Pirate theme to its design, although considering how one's image of themselves changes over time the Synchro Jacket can also alter itself to suit these changes. ****When donning a Synchro Jacket, the Wielder is rendered immune to the carbonizing effects of those damn bugs known as 'Noise', as well as has access to a small range of abilities made from the Monster Essence itself.]**

Now THAT caused Tai to raise an eyebrow, the part where this 'Synchro Jacket' thing was stated to be able to have immunity to the carbonizing effects the Noise were said to have (everything else being somewhat secondary to him at that point), and it didn't seem like his Tenant was lying either. Considering that Vritra had been co-operative and truthful to him so far then these words held more authenticity, too. He'd have to test it next time he encountered a Noise, the fact that he thought this making him realize already the shift from 'flight' to 'fight' in regards to humanity's enemy. Thinking back to that day at the Concert, of how useless and pathetic he had felt back then, caused him to clench a fist in frustration. However, with this Synchrogear, he might be able to be more use in the fight against them, something which Tai found himself QUITE relieved about, causing a small smirk to form on his lips at the prospect. The fact that he could someday lose his life against them didn't matter to him, not when he had so little left to lose anyways.

'I see... now that those questions are out of the way, how do you think we should proceed? If you ask me, I'd say we look into who it is that's the Synchrogear user at School tomorrow. Since its a full day tomorrow with the exception of that Volleyball rally, we'll likely have little time for researching, but at least we can dig up some leads. Knowing more about your enemy's a great way to bring them down after all.' Tai thought as he proceeded to draft up plans and theories inside his mind, his eyes gleaming with a calculative light. The teen did NOT appreciate being tortured and nearly being killed by whoever this 'King' was, not one bit, so in his mind this King whom had already made the first move would be Tai's enemy... the first of many actually, he bet. Now that Tai had this power, wouldn't it be a bit of a waste not to take advantage of this opportunity? After all, he DID vow to Vritra to do whatever it took for the sake of his own justice, even if said things were frowned upon.

**[This one would start off in a discreet method of observation. Since the Palace itself took the initiative, its unlikely that the enemy is aware of your existence as a Synchrogear Wielder. The Palace and everything within it acted as separate entities from this one's observation, meaning that its unlikely that the 'King' in the human world is aware of what happens there. In essence, if this were a chess game, then YOU are the one making the 'official' first move on this battlefield. Aside from that, one other thing this one would suggest is to make time for training, as that will better prepare you for future battles.]**

'Yeah, that's a given. No matter what people think, these powers will be similar to a muscle, one has to train it constantly to raise its effectiveness. Not to mention that, just like said muscle, using them for long time periods can exhaust and potentially damage me. Not good on multiple fronts if one asks me.' Tai responded as he stood up from his sofa, proceeding to walk off to go about his day normally. He'd not do much training today due to his exhaustion from the said day's affairs, but tomorrow he'd look for somewhere appropriate to do so.

Only THEN would he truly be able to strike back at this unknown foe... whoever they may be.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Alright, the second chap of this Arc is complete! Sorry for the wait, things happened on my end and I wasn't able to write for the last few days. Now I feel like i'm on high with my Laptop back to me, and it feels GREAT! to quote a certain jojo character. Yeah, diehard fan of Jojo's here, sorry not sorry. **

**Anyways, not only has Tai gone through a life or death ordeal, its also sprung him into action. He's going to charge ahead and confront this adversary in a game of detective work similar to a certain detective prince from the franchise this arc's inspired by. Things about the Synchrogears have been reveal too, especially the enemy's one. I'm building up to something big here with this one, something which will likely only take place after the first Symphogear's completion. Not to mention that some bits will be outlined and boldened to show SHADOW/Tai explaining to Hibiki in the present... much like said certain franchise's way of cutting back and forth in a certain entry now that I think about it. **

**Hope you all enjoy and keep reading. Thanks for the views, regardless though.**

**Peace Out!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Investigation

**Chapter 12 – Investigation**

**"****After the talk with Vritra, I decided to start investigating the next day, though of course it wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do. Not with the reputation I have at School. Still, I did manage to glean some information about the teacher at the time, his name being Suguru Kamoshida, our Gym Teacher since before I even enrolled. Well, if you read the news around this time you would have found out that a certain teacher got arrested for 'indulging in his desires'. Here's how it went down…"**

'Alright, here's the info I got so far about this guy…'

After School let up, Tai remained inside the campus, sitting within his classroom whilst silence dominated the atmosphere. It only made sense since he was the only one still inside, the rest of the class having left for their own activities or to just go home. If anyone were to look at him right now, then they would only see a normal as hell, glasses wearing Highschool student diligently studying for his future exams. Like mentioned, the teen currently had the appearance of jotting down some extra notes for the upcoming tests, especially since he didn't have much else to do since Chad had other commitments to attend to. Though, in his mind Tai had gone on to ponder a completely different matter.

This matter revolved around the user of that so-called 'Palace' the Castle of Lust, Suguru Kamoshida. According to the male's research, Kamoshida turned out to be two things: One, a Gym Teacher here at their high-school who also coached the School's Volleyball Team. The guy had been a Teacher here longer than Tai had been enrolled, apparently, but that lead to his second point: once having been an Olympic Athlete who dropped out when he had suffered some kind of injury which prevented him from competing ever again. Part of him DID wonder why he would choose to teach at a normal highschool like this one instead of something like one of the more popular Academies, but perhaps those answers wouldn't come just yet. Still though, if this didn't call him a shady individual, then the fact that his Team had a LOT of injuries on their person and seemed quite evasive about the subject definitely did. Furthermore, Tai couldn't help the revulsion he felt surging in his chest whenever he noticed how Kamoshida seemed to glance at some of the female students in their gym clothes back at the Volleyball Rally when he thought nobody would notice.

Ah yeah, then there was the Volleyball Rally…

'First off, the Volleyball rally today felt like a total waste of time since it was just a bunch of fully grown adult men pitted against high school students who seemed to have very little idea of what they were doing… no, that's not quite right, it's more like they were SPECIFICALLY picked to be out onto that makeshift 'team' in the Rally…' He thought, remembering the Volleyball Rally that had been a mandatory thing for the Students to attend.

Like he had mentioned though, there had been so much shady actions around that thing that he didn't eve known where to begin. Let's start with the most obvious thing, the ACTUAL Volleyball Team, it was practically Childs play to identify the from the rest of the class since they each had various bruises and cuts across their bodies, yet nobody seemed to want to check up on them or ask if they were okay. He would have asked himself if he could, but it seemed that even they were a bit too wary of talking to him, likely due to the reputation he has thanks to coming here. Anyways, the whole thing just felt like the teachers were just stroking their own egos with the Volleyball Coach being the worst of the bunch…

Tai could only count himself lucky that he didn't get selected to join himself, otherwise he likely wouldn't have been able to hold himself back… even if part of him WANTED to so he could smash a volleyball into that guy's stupid fucking crotch.

'Still doesn't change the fact that I know shit about Volleyball…'

In one instance one student got hit in the face by a Volleyball, knocking him down and out for the count. Of course, everyone rushed to see if the guy was okay, but Tai wasn't a fool, he caught the slight look of irritation and jealousy on the Volleyball coach's face before he joined in and had some teachers bring a stretcher to transport the unconscious kid to the infirmary. It hadn't taken long for rumours to start afterwards, just as there were rumours about the Teacher using physical punishment on the Students, however it seemed like those rumours got repressed by a large amount of the Teaching staff, and judging from what he had learned from the other students, whatever Kamoshida's been doing to them may as well be an open act since a lot of people in the staff were aware of what's going on, they just turn a blind eye to it.

'Looks like there's rotten adults no matter where I go… I really shouldn't be as surprised as I am now.' Really, why did he feel surprised at all that this Gym Teacher turned out to be a major asshole in secret and nobody has tried, or bothered even, to report him to the police? If anything, though he should be more focused on taking him down and finally acting upon the process of adhering to the vow which he had made to Vritra. 'Show the strength of my will to stand on my own two feet, huh? In that case… I can think of only one thing that can help the situation…' The male thought to himself as he remembered the whole incident with the Palace and the fact that somehow Kamoshida was a Synchrogear user, something which Vritra had confirmed himself after watching the guy through Tai's own gaze. Speaking of the Dragon… 'Say Vritra, now that we have found out that the guy's the user we've been looking for, would you say that the key to beating would be-'

**[The Key to defeating that fool is the Palace, not to beat him up in the real world.]**

Vritra quickly responded to him, almost as if he had read Tai's mind or something… not something which the male doubted honestly, given their situation.

**[This one has been watching that person, and thus has confirmed that he indeed is not aware of this Synchrogear's Activities. This one has a hunch on why this is, as it conflicts with several points that this one mentioned to you previously, but to confirm them it is imperative to take out the 'Palace'. That is where the bulk of the Synchrogear's power is amassed according to this one's senses, meaning that will be our main battlefield.]**

So, beating him up in the real world wasn't an option, then? Damn, he felt a bit disappointed at that, but whatevs. Smashing that guy's Palace face in instead sounded like a decent alternative, anyways. 'Alright then, how do you suggest we invade that damned place? Not too fond of seeing that ugly mug of his in that disgusting Speedo, but the fighting will be a decent distraction at least.'

**[We'll have to start at the Palace's main entrance. This one believes that is the safest infiltration point since, should we enter the Palace from one of the classrooms, where we will end up is too dangerous and risky. For now, we should investigate the Palace itself, since this one is unsure as to how we can destroy it completely.]**

'Can't we just, you know, blow it up with your flames? They ARE supposed to be super powerful… oh wait…'

**[Good, you realized it before this one had to correct you like a moron. If we were at full power, then yes that indeed can be done, although if we were to hypothetically encounter larger Palaces, then perhaps it wouldn't be enough. In any case, this one advises you to take to the main entrance, that way this one can show you a few things about battling as a Synchrogear user.]**

After he finished the conversation with Vritra, Tai set about leaving the classroom in order to venture to the point where the Dragon had intended for him to use to enter that Palace. Walking Along the corridors, the male couldn't help but feel like this place had a much different feel to it than when it was filled with students and bustling noises. Now, instead of the energetic atmosphere which schools usually possessed during the day, everything had this… well, creepy atmosphere to it, it really bothered him. Tai wasn't sure why this was the case since he would inevitably be heading into somewhere FAR more disgusting than this, but it wasn't like he could help how he felt.

At times like these, he would recall the various war stories he read online out of boredom, one of which felt particularly similar to his current situation. This one took place in the 1940's of world war 2, where Brabant was still under German Control. For many people in Brabant, it was the Polish who were the real liberators, as well as the British, Canadians and Americans. What was less well-known then, as now, was that many Polish men were also involved in the battle in the air. Just after midnight on 28 August 1942, two of them floated down on parachutes above the darkness of the Brabant countryside, towards an uncertain future.

Sounded a lot like his own situation in that he may never be known as someone important, but he still nonetheless would be charging headfirst into a battlefield all on his lonesome… well, not exactly ALONE per say, he had his Dragon Tenant with him after all. Furthermore, even though there was a sense of tragedy to that tale, Tai didn't intend to let anyone die on his watch, he'd make sure that nobody became a victim of death in this case. If what he had investigated was any accurate then Kamoshida may have done this many times in his years of teaching here, so he had to be put down NOW.

Whilst he thought about this, Tai looked upwards when he recognized that he wasn't alone at the entrance to the outside, and his gaze soon found itself fallen upon the lone other occupant. Said occupant turned out to be a young girl, possibly around his age or a year older, and looked to be getting ready to go home. The young girl had long, dark hair which she kept in a ponytail that hung downwards, as well as dark brown eyes. She seemed to have been wearing a mixture of some gym clothes and the school uniform, for she wore white trainers, black socks, some shorts underneath the cage-patterned (he'd never get over the whole prison motive here) skirt, but beyond that she wore the shirt of the gym outfit, alongside a leg brace and a couple arm braces… however, that didn't distract him from noticing how beat up the poor girl looked. Bruises all over her body, one particularly large one above her left eye, not to mention the absolutely DEAD look in her brown orbs like she had lost most of her will to live…

Yeah, pretty horrifying to say the least.

'If I remember correctly, her name's Suzui Shiho… one of the Volleyball Team's best players despite not being on the best position in the Team…'

"Hm…?" Just then, she spoke something when she sensed someone's presence near her and looked to see Tai standing close by her. "Oh, sorry, am I in the way…?" she mumbled, shuffling aside when she noticed that she had been blocking the entrance to the outside. The way she shuffled like a frightened mouse fearing that an animal would suddenly pounce on her out of nowhere really made him want to go all Gallagher on the Gym Teacher's brain matter right about now, only he instead used it as fuel to further solidify his resolve to enter his palace.

But first, perhaps showing compassion to this girl could help her out a bit, give her 'some' hope in humanity where its been made clearly apparent that much of it had been taken from her. "You doing alright? Those bruises…" he began, mentally noting about how she flinched when he brought them up, all the while cursing his own stupidity at getting close to something he shouldn't. "They look like they need checking out. Might want to find some treatment for them in the infirmary." He advised, remembering that one thing this School had going for it was that it had a pretty good infirmary due to a decent portion of the School's budget going towards it. Hopefully she could go there to help out.

"Ah, don't worry about me, this isn't something I can't handle on my own…Besides, I have to have practice not long after now so I'll be a bit busy for a while." The girl, Shiho, stated after a light gasp of surprise. Her eyes flashed with befuddlement and disbelief, probably due to not having expected someone to come up and say that to her before. A few seconds passed after her response trailed off, and just as Tai made to head off, the girl spoke to him again which caught the male by surprise. "Um… are you… the recently transferred student…?"

For a moment, Tai felt his breath get caught in his throat when she asked him that question, however he quickly forced himself not to think about the memories of his earlier school life that those words dragged up, all before answering in the next couple seconds. "… Yeah, that's me. Just call me Tai, I don't like my full name." he stated awkwardly and slowly, his instincts already switching from sympathy to caution within a second. He didn't want to think of what might happen if she turned out to be like the others but at least in this way it wouldn't surprise him as much.

"Um… this may not be any of my business, but… don't let what people say about you get you down… they tend to gossip like that all the time here…"

Only, the thing was, her next words still managed to catch him off guard regardless as evident by how his features no longer tried to suppress how dumbfounded he felt and now looked towards her. Did she… did she just say what he thought she said? This… this wasn't what he expected at all! Usually, it was only Chad who encouraged him to move forwards when the rumours gave him grief and he acted like a total bro! Yet, this one girl who looked WAY worse for wear felt the need to be concerned about HIM over herself? 'Was I… wrong to mistrust the student body…? Was I a tad too quick to judge them all as similar to those adults that I abhor…?' the male wondered to himself briefly, before he mentally shook himself back into focus since he had a task to do. However, Tai didn't finish this conversation up without at least showing his gratitude to her. She WAS the only person in this place aside from Chad who actually showed concern for him after all. "… No worries, Mrs Shiho… I'm made of tough stuff, nothing like rumours can take me down." He stated with a confident smile on his face whilst his eyes held a strong, burning light to them. A light which resembled strong orange flames that blazed brightly in the darkness.

Seeing this almost made her recoil from how 'bright' they looked, and as someone who had been used to such a dark, bleak and depressing atmosphere that was her life this pretty much set her entire world ablaze. However, instead of commenting about it and offending him in the process, Shiho instead let loose a small but happy smile as a light of joy started to return to her brown orbs. "That's good… I had a friend once who kept getting judged by her peers because of her looks… she moved away recently due to family circumstances though, so I don't see her as much even if we keep in touch through skype." She explained. "Well, I'll see you around."

With that, Shiho finished getting ready and walked outside, leaving Tai alone at the entrance way. It didn't take him long for him to snap out of his composure though, and when he did so the male then walked outside too, his goal and determination burning brighter within him than ever before.

By the time he reached the outside of the School main entrance, Tai stood at about 20 meters from it before turning back to the building itself, his eyes narrowing as a sense of tension overtook him and replaced the previously happy, content feelings that Shiho's words had put into him. 'Alright, now that we're here… lets get this freaking show on the road. Heck, we can also use this as a chance to train in those fire powers a bit, now that I think about it…' Tai thought as he put his pockets inside his uniform. 'Ready when you are, Vritra…'

**[Very well, brat. Entering palace and deploying Synchro Jacket: now.]**

After his tenant spoke those words with a blank, monotonous to a downright computer like voice, did things start to change around his vicinity. Everything started becoming blurry and waving about like someone had injected him with some kind of drug that imposed hallucinations on his ass. The skies turned dark and cloudy whilst spiralling into a whirlpool atop the now transformed school building, and in no time at all, Tai stood in his black getup in front of the Palace. The Castle of Lust as he liked to call it, though in reality he had based that name off of what he had seen when escaping that Dungeon area as well as Vritra's own records about the place.

This would mark as the second time he had to stain his eyes with this place's disgusting, gaudy as all hell visage, yet there were a few differences that he could list that separated this time from the first. For one, he didn't get any sense of danger from it right now, no he felt absolutely calm and in control over himself. Furthermore, Tai actually felt more like a badass infiltration expert wearing his currently all-black outfit known as his Synchro Jacket, his multiple Coat Tails flapping behind him as his hoot and collar rustled in a breeze generated by the Palace itself, the structure seemingly looming over him as a show of intimidation, a command to submit. Not like Tai would be following that command any time soon, the male thought whilst rolling his crimson, slitted eyes as he pocketed his gloved hands within his Trench Coat. Afterwards, he proceeded to walk forwards towards the open moat-like gate, heading into the main yard. 'Just to confirm this Vritra, but out here we cannot be attacked by enemies, right?' the male questioned his Tenant.

**[It is unlikely, but we shouldn't rule the possibility. It depends on how tight the security this place has got since we entered this garbage nest previously. This one can imagine that the so-called 'King' must have lost his temper quite a bit thanks to us humiliating him like we did.]**

'On that, we can agree.' The male thought back as he once again took the same entrance which he had taken the first time that he had entered this damned Castle. 'Looks like they haven't solved THIS little construction flaw, I see…' he added on with a sardonic chuckle as he crawled through the vent and emerged out into the same 'classroom' that he had the first time. At this point, a sense of nostalgia filled his being since this was just about the time that he had lost consciousness thanks to this Palace's influence, though unlike back then he hardly felt a thing up till now which made him confirm to himself what Vritra had said about his Synchro Jacket protecting him from this place's dominion.

Checking to see if anyone was around and finding nobody, Tai proceeded to head towards the door again, only when he was just about to reach for its handle the male suddenly froze, his eyes widening as his slitted pupils dilated. A surge of tension fell onto his shoulders as he bit back the urge to hiss, taking a few steps back from the door which looked REAL ominous to him right ow. 'I can sense… something behind there.' The male thought, although confusion bubbled within his tense state to result in this EXTREMELY uncomfortable feeling within his torso. It was all he could do to not clutch that area with either of his hands at the moment. 'Something strong… its nothing like that so-called King, but it feels quite powerful. Most likely its one of his lackeys, but… like I mentioned before its stronger than the average case.'

**[Ah, this will be a perfect opportunity then. Let this one explain it to you, what you are doing is reacting to the draconian senses which you have been outfitted thanks to becoming this one's host. These instincts include enhanced senses like sound, smell, hearing, touch and taste, but more than that this one's merger with you has given you the perception ability known as the 'third eye'. Simply put, it's the ability to infuse your eyes with that of this gracious one's, allowing you to see things of interest. Use it, and you may see something interesting.]**

Tai, after hearing a basic explanation of how to activate this 'Third Eye' from Vritra, did so. Instantly, the redness making up his draconian eyes 'pulsed' as the pupils gained a slightly red glowing outline as well. The moment that this happened, his surroundings quickly darkened themselves, almost resembling how the real world looked in his eyes, but when he looked at the door… he saw some sort of outline behind it as if he were seeing THROUGH the door like it weren't even there, an incredibly RED outline which also radiated this smoke-like aura from it standing behind the door. It currently faced away from said door, but it looked like it wasn't moving, and from the shape he deduced that it was one of those Knights that guarded this place. 'So… there's an enemy behind this door, then… makes sense why I reacted like I did earlier, then. Now, how shall I proceed…?' the male wondered.

Just then, an idea struck him just as Vritra made to say something, and after he disengaged his 'Third Eye', Tai glanced down at his right hand and raised it so that he held it at chest level before him like he were giving something to someone. In the following second, a black flame the size of a basketball appeared in his hand, bursting to life from seemingly nothing. 'Alright, now to activate the Third Eye…' the male thought, activating said ability again. Once more his surroundings darkened, although his flame itself actually had this 'aura' to it similar in design to that of the enemy behind the door's just a blackish red colour. Wonder where the red came from…?

Shaking his head, Tai quickly acted on his strategy. Dropping the flame onto the ground by tilting his hand slightly into a diagonal angle, Tai still felt the 'connection' he had to the flame itself, although it felt like it was gradually fading from his grasp. 'Not long till I lose it and it dissipates then…' the male figured as he mentally guided the flame towards the door, having it 'slide' underneath it and over to the space between the unaware enemy's feet. At that point, the male clicked his fingers as he sent a mental command to the flame, mentally visualising what he wanted to happen… and in the next moment, the sound of metal being pierced filled his ears.

'Did it work?!'

Quickly in an attempt to see the fruits of his hard work, Tai jogged over and quietly opened the door… and saw what looked like a freaking TREE of Spikes made from his black flames having emerged from beneath the enemy Knight, who had been made with golden armour by the way, in all the vital areas. It looked like it had wanted to say something whilst being hung about 4 meters in the air with its body flopping backwards like an arching bridge, but its life force faded away (Tai could tell via Third Eye) and the whole thing disintegrated, the fiery Tree following suit since its purpose had been exhausted. 'It… it worked… if I combine my fire abilities with my Third Eye, I can watch the Guards patrol routes and lay some clever traps out for them in case I don't want to fight them directly…' Tai realized, and slowly a dark smirk dawned on his lips as his eyes (not under Third Eye influence right now) gleamed menacingly. Oh, this ability would be SO much fun…

Plus, if anyone were to be confused on HOW Tai had managed to figure out how to use these Flames of his… well, one could say he got his ideas from various Anime and Manga, this idea stemming from how Gaara of the Desert in Naruto manipulated his Sand to form various things to deal with his enemies… although to be frank if it weren't for the guy's limitations in that manipulating sand was so damn exhausting on his energy reserves, Tai bet the guy could come up with SO many offense and defence-oriented options. In the male's eyes, what's the point of having special powers if one can't make use out of them? Heck, he could potentially heat his flames up to a level where they are ionized and become a whole new matter: Plasma, albeit black plasma.

Food for future thought…

In any case, Tai shut the door behind him as he proceeded to look around for any place that he could go. However, it wasn't long before he noticed something… something weird, at the corridor end which lead into the main entrance area. 'Hmm? Looks like there's a gathering of those Knights over there, a significant portion of them too… Maybe I should stay away from that area…' The male thought, before another idea popped into his head. 'Wait, since my sense of hearing has been enhanced, I should be able to eavesdrop on the happenings from here. I'm not THAT far off after all.' The male figured, all before placing his back against a nearby wall and calmly closing his eyes, proceeding to listen to…

**_"_****_ORAL GUARD, YOU PATROL THE EASTERN PERIMETER, I WANT LESS SECURITY IN THE DUNGEON AREAS AND MORE THROUGH THE IMPORTANT PARTS OF MY CASTLE! IF ANY OF YOU SO MUCH AS EVEN THINK YOU HAVE CONTACT WITH ANY INTRUDERS, CUT THEM DOWN AT ONCE! DO NOT SHOW ANY MERCY! THAT ASSHOLE YESTERDAY WAS NOT ONLY A BORE BUT HE DARE TRY TO INJURE ME! ME! THE KING! ANY INTRUDERS MUST BE EXECUTED IMMEDIATELY, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"_**

**"****Praise be to King Kamoshida! Death to the Intruders!"**

**"****Praise be to King Kamoshida! Death to the Intruders!"**

**"****Praise be to King Kamoshida! Death to the Intruders!"**

**"****Praise be to King Kamoshida! Death to the Intruders!"**

… The mad ramblings of an equally mad king. A King who, in a fit of fury, seemed to be re-organising his security detail to compensate over the previous day's events. A low sigh escaped Tai's lips at this point, utter incredulity in his system over how stupid that pathetic adult sounded to him. There were MANY things wrong with this situation, things too numerous for him to put into words although images of both the side 'entrance' that he used and how no guards had been placed in the room before were a few examples of this. Truly, he just had no words. 'I hope to God that I never catch the plague that is his idiocy…' the male thought in exasperation.

**[…Oh, you will know if and when that happens, trust this one's word on that.]**

Putting aside the ominous intent in Vritra's words should such an event ever take place, and Tai would not blame him in that case, the male decided to head on out to see where he could go next. As much as he wanted to tear that asshole a new one right now, the teen wanted to do so when there were less guards around, he wasn't a fool by any means of the word, so he held no illusions about the levels of his own power. He needed to get MUCH more experience before taking a group that large on. This wasn't like in the past when it was just him up against a bunch of thug-like enemies, supernatural elements were now put into play here.

To that end, Tai pushed through the opposite door which he had neglected to go through last time, only to quickly bounce right back to his previous spot and lean sideways slightly when he saw yet another Knight standing there, back turned. Though, by the time he had already hid, the Knight had turned around to see what had happened although to its confusion, nothing was there. 'Shit, looks like I'm going to have to work fast here, if I don't want to… hang on…' The male thought, but then he noticed something which switched him from flustered to curious. Through the use of his Third Eye, he noticed something on the Knight's face… the Mask, it was glowing as if the ability designated that thing as something of noteworthy interest. 'Why is that Mask…?'

**[Ahhhh… this one sees what's going on here but will not tell you. Figure it out for yourself.]**

Hearing those words as well as sensing how their speaker's presence faded from the forefront of his mind, made the teen frown. Whelp looked like his Tenant wouldn't be of much help here, so in the end Tai simply went for broke, not like he had much of a choice due to the enemy having cautiously decided to check the door out like any competent Guard. As he heard its heavy clunky footsteps getting closer and closer to his position, the male mentally steeled himself. This could go either of two ways: it could go very well, or it could go very south which the latter would end up with him strapped down in the Dungeon of this Castle about to be executed by that failure of a King. Not something one could say they'd want, now was it? To that end, Tai quickly shot forth from his hiding place, hopping into the air and landing on top of the Knight's shoulders, his gloved hands grasping the Mask tightly. 'Whelp, lets see what happens when I do THIS!'

With a strong continuous tug, the Knight's Mask came clean off, thoroughly ripped off its former placement. As a result, Tai fell off the creature's shoulders although he flipped back to right himself and land in a crouch, only to look up and notice that in the Knight's place, stood a tall, dark purple horse with white fur and multiple horns atop its head, two hollow glowing crimson eyes equipped on its snout which he saw when it turned on him. Its eyes shone brighter as if a form of realization. **_"Intruder! Quick, capture him for King Kamoshida!" _**It bellowed as several large groups of goo appeared beside it having seemingly rose out the ground by themselves like sentient slime. To make things even grosser, they then exploded, forming skin, flesh and bones until 2 more of those Horse things stood on either side of the first one, as well as a couple... pixie-looking things not to mention a few Jack-o-lantern motherfuckers like the ones he had fought in the Dungeon.

Each of them glared at him with bloody murder written all over their faces.

'Heh, guess that's what happens when… eh?'

The moment that they appeared, Tai then noticed how the surroundings changed into this large, open space, no longer the same room that he was in once before. 'Huh… interesting, looks like this might be some sort of defence mechanism the Palace has going for it, likely meant to isolate the target and let the forces capture easier without disturbing the rest of the place.' The male thought as he quickly analysed his new surroundings, before he noticed the horses already beginning to sprint madly towards him with their heads lowered, likely intending to ram into him. Up above he could see the Jack-o-lanterns about to launch some fireballs at him. However, Tai didn't let that happen, his previous experiences with these guys coming into play as he swung his right arm whilst shooting a stream of black flames to his opposite side in one big burst, sort of like an ignition thruster which propelled him out of the three Horses' collision path.

Landing on the ground, Tai looked upwards in order to verify his attack's result… and saw that to his surprise, the Jack-o-lanterns still floated there unharmed, like his attack hadn't even touched them. Worse still, was that from their Lanterns, came forth a shower of fiery streams similar to the ones which he had just used for motion, causing Tai to quickly swing his arm upwards to create a fiery wall in front of him, blocking their strikes. 'Tch, now THAT's something I didn't expect to see here, what the heck's up with that…?' the male wondered, scowling beneath his hood whilst his crimson slitted eyes glowed brightly. As he sensed the Horses coming at him again, Tai made to dodge them the same way he had done earlier, only to suddenly cry out in pain when a bunch of Lightning bolts slammed into him from above, curtesy of those Pixie looking things. 'Ugh! Son of a-'

WHAM!

"Guh!"

A loud grunt escaped him when three Horses slammed their heads into him with full force, the male feeling like he had just been crashed into by three freight crates at the same time which knocked the wind out of his lungs. Fortunately his Synchro Jacket came with some additional defence, otherwise he could have been impaled by those horses' horns, though this thought vanished from his mind when he had to jump out the way of another fireball barrage launched by the Jack-O-Lanterns and then roll across the ground to avoid some Lightning Strikes from the Pixies. 'Fuck! These things hit hard! They may not be Noise, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous than those fucktards!' The male thought, launching several fire streams towards the Pixies first to see what they could do in that situation, only for one of them to stay in front of the rest and tank the fire streams. At first he had thought that she would disintegrate like anything which came into contact with Vritra's flames, however the male soon got a bad present when he saw how the others combined their energies and bathed her in a green glow, her wounds healing as the Jack-O-Lanterns extinguished the flames by… absorbing them with their Lanterns. 'I see, so THAT'S how it is… it's the Horses that are the main attack force, and the rest are the support type meant to provide such from the rear, their flight ability helping them stray from the battlefield… Tch, their combat attacks are getting me nowhere…'

After dodging and evading several dozen more attacks, Tai's eyes glimmered as he started to notice their attack patterns, a strategy forming within his mind. 'Alright, now that I've seen their attack patterns, I should be able to work with this… the first thing that should be gone would probably be the Jack-O-Lanterns since their Lanterns can apparently absorb my flames before they can do any serious damage. Then I should prioritize attacking the Pixies since the Horses aren't that difficult to dodge if I time it right…' All this thinking got done within a second, something which Tai found himself thankful for since it helped him make time for strategizing in battle, especially as he slid underneath one such Horse but couldn't exactly launch a fire attack in that brief window of opportunity. Instead, Tai had to get to his feet and launch two fiery thrusters from his hands to propel him over the second of the Horses…

Then he had to steer himself when the third one swung its snout in his direction and a gust of wind shot forth to try and knock him back and into a wall.

Fortunately, Tai had held steady in the air as he hovered, glaring at his foes with the intent to cause a slaughter in mind. The enemies glared right back at him with similar intentions, and it soon became the Jack-O-Lanterns time to shine when they launched more fireballs at him. In response to this, Tai countered by launching some fireballs of his own, creating a Smokescreen after the two different attacks slammed into one another and negated each other. 'Alright, Third Eye do your thing!' the male mentally commanded as his Third Eye activated. Peering through the smoke, Tai saw the outlines of his various enemies through the darkened surroundings, something which he had been hoping to be the case since this strategy first formed within his noggin. The fact that he was proven correct brought a smirk to Tai's face as he quickly summoned a fireball into his hand. 'Alright, time to start!' the male thought as he zeroed in on the Pixies' positions, splitting the fireball into about 20 smaller ones. Once done, he then proceeded to launch them all towards the Pixies through the smoke.

On the other side of said smokescreen, the Pixies each scattered about so that they didn't look like such a big target. Unfortunately for them, that proved to not be much of a strategy when 20 fiery streams suddenly burst through the smoke and shot towards them from multiple directions. The Jack-O-Lanterns, sensing the flames flight path quickly made to go help their comrades only to get peppered by a rain of fireballs shot through the smoke, causing them to prioritize their own safety by absorbing the fire aimed at them and taking their attention away from their comrades.

**_"_****_Kyaaaa! KYAA! KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_**

Said Comrades simply burned out into nothingness, screaming until their bodies were no longer capable of such whilst burning till they disintegrated, leaving not even ashes behind. 'Yes!' Tai thought mentally as he shot forwards with his makeshift thrusters even as the Horses grew some brains and launched wind gusts to blow the smoke away. Since the Pixies were gone though, he didn't care what they did with the Smokescreen since its original purpose was simply to isolate the 'healers' of the attack force from the rest of them allowing him to safely deal a swift blow to their group's capabilities.

After flying through the Smokescreen's remains, Tai shot forth towards the Jack-O-Lanterns without fear of the Horses, since aside from those wind gusts they couldn't really target him up here, not to mention that it seemed that they worked best with their lunges anyways so it all worked out for him. As he approached them, each Jack-O-Lantern raised their Lanterns which had their Lights starting to surge like bulges on balls, the flames powering Tai's thrusters starting to shrink after this. Though, instead of worrying about this like any normal person would…

Tai just dispersed his flames entirely.

**_"_****_?!"_**

"Heh!"

Not only did this catch the creatures of Halloween off guard, but it also stopped them from reacting for a few precious seconds, something which the male exploited by grabbing onto one of them and hooking himself around it so that he was behind the creature. 'Got them, now to finish them off before they realize what happened!' the male thought to himself as a sinister cackle ripped itself free from his throat. Placing his left gloved hand on the back of the Jack-O-Lantern's head, Tai quickly threw his other hand to the side, launching several black javelins made from his Flames… all whilst his left hand erupted in black flames which quickly consumed the Jack-O-Lantern unwillingly carrying him like a rucksack or unwanted baggage.

In the end, not only did the one carrying him wail out in absolute agony whilst being forced to drop its Lantern which vanished afterwards, but the others of its kind also fell victim to the flames of the evil Dragon. Tai dropped down to the ground and noticed how the Horses were the only ones left, all their backup having met the same fate up in the skies. As such, one could say that the look of sheer outrage burning in their hellish pits for eyes could be considered justified… although to Tai, it just meant he still had some work to do…

Work that was done in the next few moments.

* * *

After finishing off the three Horses, Tai watched as their corpses disintegrated in a bath of his black flames, all the while everything around him reverted to the same room which he had been in previously. 'Guess I wasn't that far off with my previous theory then…' the male thought as he hummed, looking around to see if he could see any enemies around, even used his Third Eye to make extra sure he was alone. Once he felt satisfied that he had secured his own solitude for the moment, Tai decided to have a talk with Vritra about what had happened. 'Would it be possible to answer some questions, Vritra?'

**[About what happened, yes? Well, since this one was entertained by your strategic use of the Purgatory Dragon Fire and the surroundings, this one will provide a suitable explanation. Simply put, you were right in the whole defence mechanism theory, one that's imposed the moment that a battle takes place inside the Palace as a means of protecting itself. It happened a few times during your escape the first time, but you never noticed due to focusing on your goal. The Shadows all have this ability, and if you ambush them and rip off their masks before they see you, then this will happen. However, if the opposite happens then it will still form but you may as well be fighting an uphill battle since larger amounts of enemies will be summoned.]**

'Huh, I see… interesting, so I guess that's why the Third Eye thing can be used on the Masks… by the way, you mentioned 'Shadows' just now, you're referring to the Knights… no, you're referring to the creatures those Knights turn into, right?' Tai questioned after processing this information.

**[Indeed. According to this one's findings, these 'Shadows' are beings which were formed by the Synchrogear itself, meant to serve as puppets or minions to Guard the Palace from any intrusion. Those 'Masks' serve as a means of better controlling their actions, hence why they seemed slightly more intelligent during combat. Think of them as like small firearms and the masks the 'wielders' that the Palace uses to deal with enemies, going with your whole mechanic-based analogies. Its like this one realized, this place seems to be both sentient as well as independent from the Host, meaning that whatever happens here not only doesn't impact the user much, at least not from what this one has observed, but the host is completely unaware of what's going on here.]**

'I got evidence to support that theory, there was one time during my investigation that I actually ran into the guy. If he remembered me from the Palace, then he would have likely tried doing something to me right then and there, but instead he didn't he treated me as some lousy student. In any case, lets continue this conversation after we explore this place some more… getting some training in on manipulating these flames sounds like a plan too.' Tai thought as he proceeded to do just that.


	13. Chapter 13 - Tragedy Strikes

**Chapter 13 – Tragedy strikes**

**AN: Warning, dark chapter ahead!**

* * *

**"****From there on, I guess you could say that I simply fought and fought like a mad man possessed by some demonic beast… which wouldn't have been wrong now that I think about it. At that point, I guess you could say I was riding high, high on the sense of power, the sense of control that I felt about finally being able to do something with myself. To no longer be considered useless and be unable to save those in front of me. I didn't have to hold my head down, instead I could instead take action against what I saw as wrong. Yeah, I'd been worried a bit about the other students on the Volleyball Team, but in the end that had been my most important motivation for my powers. I guess you could say that I was so confident, so sure of myself that I would have been able to take this Adult down without casualties arising. Heck, I even admitted this to Vritra the following night… although what happened next served to give me a MASSIVE wake-up call."**

* * *

**(Play Persona 5 OST - King, Queen and Slave)**

Only the words absolute carnage could be used to describe what had followed from then on, as Tai managed to explore a large portion of the Palace.

Aside from honing his infiltration, stealth and ambushing skills with the Knights, Tai made sure to practice using his Third Eye ability to help him navigate the various rooms and Corridors. One such instance lead him to a room with its centre locked away by some Bars, of which he had to figure out how to remove them by pulling a few levers scattered across both the room's sides… although doing so made a bunch of Shadows appear around him and ambush him, leading into one of the more… prolonged fights he had through the Palace.

This fight had introduced him to WAY more of the variety in the Shadow guard detail in this place, aside from the ones which he had seen before:

Bicorne – The Horses with the horns that he had fought earlier, pretty easy enough to deal with to be frank, and the least annoying ones to fight too.

Incubus – basically these pinkish red humanoid and winged creatures with… certain parts of their anatomy elongated to the length of longswords that they used as thrusting weapons. Tai didn't like to think of those guys, just the thought of their existence nearly made him go over the edge. Considering what they liked to do in women's dreams… lets just say he took GREAT pleasure in tearing them to pieces and incinerating their remains with his Purgatory Flames.

Agathion – these small blue creatures which poked their blue heads out of large jars, their yellow slitted eyes eerily expressing their intentions. It looked like this Shadow specialized in buffing the defence of its buddies similar to how those Pixies specialized in healing, which made them just as annoying to deal with. Fortunately, he could deal with them through the use of the 'fiery pillar' tactic although he'd have to come up with a suitable name for the techniques he comes up with for his Purgatory Flames in the near future. That wasn't important for the moment, however.

Mandrakes – Now THESE humanoid Plant-like fuckers REALLY liked to scream a lot if he were honest, and Tai did NOT appreciate that. Not only were their screams annoying as fuck to deal with, but they also had the distinct ability to put him in a state of 'confusion', that was the best way he could explain it, and it serve to either temporarily stop him from moving or hit the wrong target which caused him a SIGNIFICANT amount of grief if he were frank. Fortunately, they weren't too intelligent so Tai'd managed to dupe one into hitting one of its comrades with it, and then he used that to his advantage to take out the rest.

Tactics baby; got to love them.

Kelpie – A mix of green Horse and sea creature, these bad boys LOVED to summon more of their own kind when their numbers were down, making it quite difficult for Tai to finish them all off. Though their ability to generate stronger wind gusts than the Bicorn Good thing he had managed to think up the tactic of luring them all into one spot then using his Purgatory Flame manipulation to burn up all the oxygen within that space, isolating them within a ring of said flames to block their passage.

Silky – The closest thing that came to a 'Maiden' in this place, Tai felt. Those blue skinned maidens with long dark green hair and wearing dresses had the personification of ice queen, since they specialized in using Ice on his ass and sowing him down on it. If this bastard Kamoshida believed women were like this until he 'got to them', then that'd be one more reason to give him a good kick to the balls. For these babies, since they were able to fire ice, Tai managed to trick them into shooting some at the floor turning it into a ring like those figure skaters used for performances. He'd then et the Bicorns all riled up then had them charge at him, only for him to jump out the way, reveal that he was close to the Silkies, and when they tried to stop the lack of friction caused by the Ice caused them to ram into their own comrades. Taking them out with a few fiery Spears then using the remains to make steam to blind the rest of them, Tai claimed multiple victims with this tactic.

However, it had been worth it in the end, for his reward had been a map of the place, albeit an incomplete one which meant that there would be more to it than this, and the only way for him to complete that task was to explore the rest of the Palace, which Tai did. Plus, he got a lot of training and experience in using his powers out of all the fights he participated in, so all was good… although he had to use about half his power by the end of it all despite his repetitive use of various tactics to deal with the enemy.

Part of him DID wonder at the time how his power seemed to grow and grow with every battle he took place in, the potency of his flames increasing, the amount he could generate, etc. It hadn't even taken him that long to generate enough Purgatory Flames to incinerate an entire Palace section either. Guess that during all the fighting he did his standing with Vritra, AKA his Synchro Rate, along with actually talking to the Dragon and learning from what little titbits of information he provided shot up from the lowest bottom that it had been. After all, according to Vritra the Synchro Rate went up or down depending on the relationship between the monster essence and the human host. Originally, he had barely been above 0% Synchro Rate, hence why his power had been so weak earlier, but by the time that he managed to locate the second portion of the Map and therefore complete it, Tai'd advanced to about 35%.

Heh, the male did feel significantly glad that he had been able to do something right for once.

There WERE a few things which really got under his skin though the more that he explored this damn Palace, like for one after solving a particularly annoying puzzle with a bunch of Library books, Tai'd discovered a room which could only be described as a… well, a torture chamber, but not like the ones in the dungeon. No, this one contained stuff used primarily for the more… sexual kind of torture, and that alone would have unnerved him regarding the Gym Teacher since all that he saw represented aspects of this guy's personality, manifested into this form by the Synchrogear. However, what REALY got to him was the fact there were so many PICTURES of a single girl, strapped across all the walls in the room whilst there had been no sign of an actual body anywhere… a girl whom Tai found EXTREMELY familiar with:

Shiho.

The male knew for a FACT that the girl had suffered plenty of abuse under this guy's 'coaching', he had investigated that asshole, he had his theories which were slowly being proven right, he had even SEEN evidence on the Volleyball Team. However, when he had seen what he had in that room, worry sunk its fangs into him as well as a deep and utter revulsion towards this… this sack of shit. Yeah, Tai couldn't call this person a human being if this reflected what he thought in real life according to what Vritra said about this Synchrogear and how its ability to manifest a Palace like this worked. If this guy had his 'eyes' on Shiho like what he had seen, then… Yeah, no. He didn't want to even THINK about that disgusting thought process even if it turned out to be true.

Then there had been that one excessively hard fight against a Shadow shaped like a medieval soldier with crimson angel wings called 'Archangel' in a chapel which turned out to be the Volleyball court, but he had managed that fight pretty decently. Perhaps his earlier thoughts had more influence, but Tai couldn't recall much on the tactics he had used to outsmart that thing back then, but he felt certain that he had done SOMETHING right since he won with little injury.

After all, the human mind was their greatest weapon, just look at famous generals like Oda Nobunaga and Hannibal Barca.

Fortunately, before his mind could wander and lead to a potential bad spot, Tai had found the second half of the Map at this point, resulting in a mixed set of feelings in the teen. But by the time that he had found the second portion of the map to complete what he had found, Tai discovered several facts: One, that apparently time in the real world and the Palace passed by the same, which meant that he couldn't spend too much time here as he had already spent about an hour here so far. He didn't want to think about what could happen if he didn't meet the curfew deadline his Probation had set for him after all, which could have been reason enough to quit whilst he was ahead. Two: he found that because of his constant fighting, much of is stamina had been used up leaving him exhausted by the time he got to the second map portion, thus he had to memorize it quickly before he could collapse from said exhaustion and this was where fact number three came in.

According to the Map, there was a certain Tower in the Castle which housed something akin to a 'treasure box', one which had a giant lock over it. Vritra had speculated that was likely where this Barrier's power source turned out to be, so if he were to destroy it then he likely would be able to either destroy the Synchrogear itself or at least damage it to where it can't hurt anyone anymore. Thus, the black clad teen decided that once he got the chance tomorrow, he'd make a beeline STRAIGHT for that room so he could settle this once and for all. Nobody would be dying on his watch…

Nobody.

Thus, after making it out the Palace by sneaking by through a series of shortcuts which he'd memorized, Tai managed to return home before the curfew he had been set came to be and went straight to bed, not knowing what the next day would bring.

**(Ost End)**

* * *

**(Play Persona 5 OST - Beneath the Mask Instrumental Version)**

The next morning started off simple enough, albeit with a few slight changes to the usual routine. First, Tai would wake up under prompting from his Dragon Tenant, who would then proceed to make him do various training exercises like push ups, sit ups, and others all supplemented by about 10 laps around his house. According to him when Tai had questioned him at one point (not like he complained any though), Vritra explained that daily exercise would help his body prepare for the rest of the day and, more than that, increase the Synchrogear's efficiency since the body is using the Omnimatter its made of to reinforce and strengthen itself from all the strain the exercises provided. In essence, more exercise destroyed and repaired Omnimatter, making it stronger and more durable on the field. Physical ability WAS supposed to be important after all, something which the black haired, glasses wearing male could agree with wholeheartedly.

Afterwards, Tai'd finish up his routine and get dressed for School. Since he had an all day one ahead of him, the male had to prepare himself mentally since a lot of time would be devoted to his studies today, delaying his final stretch of entering the Palace. An annoyance to be sure since he MUCH preferred practicing with Vritra and the Synchrogear to School, although luckily, he would be able to meet with Chad again today at long last. When thinking about his sole true bro, Tai could not help the smile on his lips as he walked along the streets, heading to the Metro station. He wasn't a homosexual if anyone asked, but wasn't it normal for a guy to be excited to see a friend of his when things have been so shitty? Maybe it was just him, but that was honestly how he felt.

**[This 'Chad' Person… you seem to take to him very highly, this one had noticed then whilst previewing some of your memories as a past time. This one is curious about him, explain the relation between the two of you.]**

'Relation, huh…? Well, I don't t get why you didn't just go through every memory I have of the guy since you apparently can invade my privacy at any moment…' Tai thought back to his Tenant in mild annoyance, as he entered the station and got onto the train. He didn't say much about the invasion of privacy as much as he wanted to, due to knowing how Vritra was. Not to mention that the knowledge that their bond was what allowed him to have his current level of power made him want to preserve it and pissing the Dragon off did the exact opposite of that. They WERE known to be creatures of pride and arrogance after all.

After sitting down on an empty seat, he noticed a couple girls from his School conversing like a bunch of gossipy busybodies and giggling in an annoying manner, so he tuned them out in order to focus on the convo with Vritra, something much more significant if one asked him. 'In essence, we've been bros for a while now, but I met him a bit before a certain 'incident' that ruined my life. I had been out on a simple jog when I discovered the guy getting beat up by some punks. They had his neckless, and with the way things had been shown it seemed like it was something important to him, so I helped out. I took the punks down, gave him back his necklace and went on my way, you know cause he's not the only one with a fondness for that kind of accessory.'

Taking a pause, Tai fingered the now 'useless' trinket still wrapped around his neck. He didn't care what anyone said, this Necklace held more value to him than anything else he currently owned, he'd be fine with losing everything but this if he could hep it. He did overhear something from the girls near him about someone not showing up for a meeting, but he didn't pay it much heed as he continued his story. 'After the incident, people branded me as a criminal without taking my side of the story, going instead for the one who was supposedly the 'victim' in the whole scenario. You could imagine what kind of place I had been in at the time… and when I fought against some punks who mocked me for what had happened, Chad came in and smacked them around with me. Said he was repaying me for helping him before, but afterwards we just sort of… stuck together, I suppose. I asked him why since I was a known criminal now, and he just said, 'I'll stick by you like you stuck by me.' Dudes been loyally doing that stuff ever since, and so, no matter what I've been doing my best to help him when he needs it in return. We became bros like that.'

Of course, there was a bit more to the story than what Tai had just said, but it basically covered the most important parts of it. The thing that had to be taken away from this was that Chad's display of being a loyal friend touched Tai in his greatest moment of need, and from thereon the dude vowed to pay back that loyalty in kind, so whenever Chad needed help like with fights, financial things or just someone to hang with, Tai would be the first one to offer him the support he needed, Tai wasn't the only one who lived alone currently after all. If anyone were to call it something like gay romance, he'd 'happily' correct them by declaring it as true bromance, nothing strange about it. Bromance literally meant a very close relationship between men but with no sexual undertones after all.

**[Hmmm… intriguing, for mortals like you mongrels to develop something close to such levels of comradery… This one had almost forgotten it.] **

'What do you mean by that?'

**[None of your concern, brat. In any case, your stop's coming up, this one suggests you focus.]**

* * *

After doing as the Evil Dragon said, which sounded way unlike what it was supposed to be inside Tai's mind, said teen left the metro station and followed the two girls whom he'd overheard their conversation, since apparently, they were going the same way he was. All the while, the teen blurred their conversations out whilst pulling out his Phone and proceeding to text his best bro Chad.

Their conversation became as follows:

Tai: Hey Chad, you doing ok?

Chad: I'm good. You?

Tai: heading to School, not long now. Ugh, the worst thing of the day.

Chad: I imagine.

Tai: You back at School?

Chad: Yea. Got a morning break, will be in the Library. Heard you were examining someone?

Tai: Just a potentially scummy Gym Teacher at our School by the name of Kamoshida.

Chad: Ah. He's been trying to recruit me for Volleyball. Wasn't interested.

Tai: Shit, really?! Damn good thing you refused dude, that guy has shady business written all over him, and you know how credible it is when I of all people say that.

Chad: Indeed. You heard?

Tai: Hm? What you mean? Something happened at School or something?

Chad: Apparently someone from the Volleyball team's missing. People are talking about it…

Tai: …Sounds worrying. Hope that person's going to be alright.

Chad: Same.

The conversation ended there, but what Chad had told him left Tai with multiple alarm bells inside his mind. It could NOT have been a coincidence that he had ran into someone of that same team, found that room IN that Palace, and THIS happens. He remembered the dead look Shiho had in her eyes yesterday, and he feared the worst. Tai hoped that he was just exaggerating, that things wouldn't turn out as bad as he thought they might, knowing from his past experiences and wishing that he didn't have good instincts for once. 'Vritra, with my nose can I track people down by Scent? That way I can check this out at break.'

**[Use the Third Eye, that will be more effective.]**

A simple and uninterested reply came from the Dragon, to which Tai mentally sighed knowing how he never really seemed interested in things unless they impacted their own survival or the pride that he was so fond of. Still, it wasn't like he didn't have no information from him, Vritra DID just say to use his Third Eye ability which meant that he could likely use it in reality as well as inside the Palace. Made sense really since Vritra DID awaken outside and said that the Noise were nothing to him, pretty much implying this from the get-go.

As such, when Tai finally found himself at the front of the school, the male placed an image of the broken girl in his mind before activating his Third Eye, the surroundings darkening as a result. Looking around though, the male didn't seem to catch any sight of the said Volleyball Team member, which only caused him to worry more instead of just calming down. No, his gut told him he shouldn't leave this be, so whilst he stepped into the yard so that he could go to his homeroom class, the moment that first break began after the second period, Tai mentally vowed to find her.

God, he hoped she would be alright.

**(Ost End)**

* * *

**(Play Persona 5 OST - Everyday Days)**

The second period came rolling around, but to him it could not have come quick enough…

Unfortunately for Tai, it also happened to be a class with Mr Ushimaru in it, someone whom Tai could arguably say was one of his least favourite Teachers aside from Kamoshida, and the latter didn't even have him for Gym Class. Right now, the teen stayed silent as he continuously jotted down notes whilst looking like the ideal student, all the while he internally wrestling with his own caution-riddled mind. Of course, since he had been used to doing this for so long now, he had forgotten that he wasn't the only one who could read his thoughts right now, something he got reminded of all too easily when he sensed a scoff come from his Tenant. 'What is it?'

**[Look at you, worrying over some mortal like she's your mate or something. This one is boggled by this, you two are just strangers and yet you worry about her like this. It is baffling to the point of madness, back in this one's day there wasn't NEARLY as much lack of composure, people valued their own strength much more it seemed.]**

'Well, to be fair a lot of years have passed since your day then, Vritra.' Tai responded, mildly irritated at his Tenant's words as well as the lack of care regarding others. Well, the male couldn't really fault him there since if he did then Tai would have been branded as a hypocrite, since he himself held little care for those outside his small circle… well, a circle containing himself, Chad and Hibiki. If one asked about the mentioned girl's friends, then he would say that they were more along the lines of association so he would have to care about them somewhat. However, the main issue still needed to be addressed. 'People have grown far too weak since those days, largely thanks to the lack of War and since the Noise can't be dealt with by ordinary means, people would rather hide in their homes like frightened rabbits than actually doing anything, even as the Military tries to hold them off.'

**[Stop diverting the blame to other people and focus on your own self, brat. This one grows weary of how pathetic you seem with caring for this stranger in such a contradictory manner. Why should you care about someone who won't care about you back? She's only absorbed in her own little world after all…]**

For a moment, Tai made to mentally retort with no small amount of anger to those comments, but something flashed in his mind, an idea and that idea served to make him stay his hand. If it worked, he could somewhat help Vritra understand what things were like from his perspective more. 'Let's see… how can I answer…? Ah, think of it like this, at a basic level humans value each other on a primitive level. We're a pack-based species like Wolves or Bees.'

**[Or ants.]**

'That too, but back to the point. Think of this like some great item you found one day, you would like to treasure it right? I thought so, Dragons DO like hoarding their treasure after all, it's part of their greedy nature, something which humans also share with them. Now, how would you feel if you noticed that there was a crack in that beloved treasure of yours? A crack which damaged its beauty in your eyes? What would you do if someone had caused that crack to damage it so, and intended to take it away from you?' Tai questioned, and when he did so the teen heard a loud growl come from the back of his mind.

**[That fool would have had a death wish if he were to steal anything from this one, human. Very few who tried to steal from a Dragon's horde will ever survive, and we're NOT talking about those stupid fairy tale books that you humans have developed over the years. Those things are mere fantasy, nothing more.]**

'As I thought. Now, how this relates to me wanting to help that girl Shiho is simple: she's the sole other person in this damned hellhole school aside from Chad to treat me with any kind of decency or respect. Now I hear she's been dealing with some problems of her own, so I'll be making sure to return that favour.'

**[Hmph, just burning this damned place to the ground could have solved all your problems, you know. This one wouldn't have hesitated.]**

'I know you would have simply torched the school and everyone in it, but one: I'm not nearly as powerful or as domineering as you, and two: it'd only solve the immediate problems and make more trouble further down the line. Also, why do you think that Dragons were hunted down in myths and tales? It's because they always treat their problems the same way: burn it all to ashes. Sure, the immediate problem is solved, but then it draws attention, especially the WRONG kind. Imagine what it would have been like if Dragons simply stayed within their homes and didn't endanger other life forms, I can imagine them having lived WAY longer… although, then there's the so-called 'Gods' and they're hardly saints.'

Whilst these two had their debate, although some might call it an argument since the two were getting quite heated into it due to their ideals clashing with one another, Mr Ushimaru glanced over at him and his eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "Mr Hageshī, are you really paying attention to this?" he questioned, throwing some of his chalk at the teen. Said teen didn't even raise his head and just held a hand outward, catching the offending piece of chalk without so much as flinching as he finished off making notes. Several gasps reached his ears, prompting him to look up and notice what he held in his hand. "Huh…? Where did…?" the male wondered before noticing the Teacher's angry glare, mentally piecing it together before proceeding to offer the Chalk back. "Sir, you uh… dropped this?" He questioned… all whilst mentally grinning like a maniac at having managed to tick the professor off.

There was just somethings about dishing out karma that felt just so SATISFYING.

"Tch… Whatever!" Seeing that this was getting him nowhere, plus he had a lesson to teach, the Teacher simply chose to forget about this incident for now. Instead, he went and continued his lesson, much to the Synchrogear wielder's satisfaction. "Now, we will be discussing the political system here in Japan. Now, I assume you all know about the separation of powers. There are 3 different branches in our government. The national Diet is Legislative, the Cabinet is Executive, and the Supreme Court is Judiciary. This division of power provides checks and balances so that no one power becomes unstoppable."

Seeing this, Tai made to continue his jotting of noted…

"Hey, what's that…?!"

When all of a sudden, a male student on the opposite side of the classroom sat up after glancing at the windows in the corridor outside, his face a look of shock and confusion. Obviously, this caused the class to direct their attention towards him, the Synchrogear wielder and irritable teacher included. "Enough, this is a Classroom, and were in the middle of an important lecture!" he bellowed loudly like a dumbass idiotic interpretation of a sergeant in a military camp. Mentally, Tai berated the Teacher for this attitude since he doubted many people would be listening to the man now that something else had caught their interest, the gossip-lovers in them now fully awake. Just when he made to wave it off as nothing important that he should get involved with…

"Wait… SHE'S GOING TO JUMP!"

**(Ost End) **

… WHAT?!

**(Play Persona 5 OST - Tension)**

Instantly the gears in Tai's brain sped up into overdrive as that sentence repeated itself within his noggin like an annoying echo. Yet, every time it did bigger and bigger waves of all kinds of different emotions shot through him like explosions, as Tai's skin lost all its colour whilst his eyes shot wide open. His jaw dropped and he felt like the air inside of him had been kicked out of his body.

In fact, before he even realized it, he had been the first one out the classroom, ignoring whatever ramblings Mr Ushimaru had yelled out in a vain attempt to get the students under control.

This…!

This was…!

There could only be one person who could fit the bill that the students were describing. A female gender, jumping… those alone could warrant some alarm bells ringing inside one's mind, but with his experiences the teen could tell that this was something so much worse. Tai couldn't believe this; no, no it was more like he didn't WANT to believe what was currently happening. How could he have been so fucking FOOLISH?! The signs had been there, they had been RIGHT the damn there in FRONT of him, and the teen had been downright STUPID enough to not notice them!

He hadn't repaid her yet!

Tai hadn't settled the debt he owed her for showing such kindness and respect to him!

She could not die!

Suzui Shiho must not depart to the next world!

Thanks to the small bits of info he had gleaned, Tai had guessed the place where Shiho was at the moment, although he feared that may not be the case for much longer. If she really did intend to do what he thought she was, then there was only one place which offered the best conditions for her attempt to be a success.

The Rooftop.

Thus, that would be his destination.

* * *

Using a combination of his draconian instincts created by his Synchrogear, his Third Eye, and every sense that he could, Tai managed to get to the school rooftop in record time. He bet that he had left a bit of a gust thanks to his running speed, but at this point Tai could hardly care about that, instead his mind focused on the important thing that was stopping someone from doing something which many would regret.

Throwing the door to the rooftop open with a loud GA-THUNK sound, Tai quickly shouted out the name of the woman whom he owed a debt to: "SHIHO!" his bellow, enhanced by the Synchrogear-modified body, reverberated through the air with a strong sense of… inhumanity to it. "DON'T FUCKING DO IT! DON'T DO WHAT I THINK YOU'RE GOING TO DO!" Tai yelled once again as he finally found the target of his frantic tracking attempts till now… and there she stood.

Suzuki Shiho: a star Volleyball Player…

On the Rooftop's edge.

The moment that he saw her, Tai's breath got caught in his throat, his shocked eyes widening even further than humanly possible. Part of him had hoped that she would have gotten herself a little bit of treatment and thus would have looked better when he next saw her, however instead judging from how beaten up her body looked (despite her standing with her back to him, her undone hair wildly flailing to her left from the wind) with there being WAY more injuries on her person, she looked even WORSE. Her body looked like someone had tried to stone her to death with how many bruises adorned her frame, making him wonder if just the simple act of WALKING or lifting a finger triggered immense waves of pain for her.

'…Holy shit… this is BAD…'

Slowly, Tai proceeded to step forwards, doing so about 4 times before Shiho looked towards him, which caused him to notice several MORE things about her person. For one, there were multiple darkish purple coloured fingerprints on her neck, which indicated that she had possibly barely survived a strangling attempt in addition to several hand shaped marks on her face, likely a result of being slapped with considerable force. Her eyes, which had looked so dead to the world before until he had brought a spark to them, now looked like that of a corpse once more. If anything, there had been not a trace of the light that he had sparked in them, like it had never existed. In the end, she looked just like someone on her last legs, and THAT became the most horrifying part of all this for him. "Shiho…"

"…Ah… You're… Tai…"

Oh good, she could still recognize him then, the teen thought in relief although this didn't alter his caution any. Her words implied that she wasn't fully incapable of rational thought, which meant that he still had a chance to turn things around for the young girl. "Yeah, its me alright." The male started, this time in a much quieter voice as he slowly inched towards the rooftop edge. He had to do it slightly though, bit by bit so that he didn't startle her and cause her to fall off, plummeting to her death since this was QUITE high up, and there wasn't anything below that could have broken her fall. One wrong move, and it would be all over.

However, there was still a way to stop this from happening, as according to some research he'd once done, when one is trying to commit Suicide, they still have mixed feelings about death, fluctuating between wanting to live and wanting to die. Rather than wanting death, they just want the pain to stop—and the impulse to end their life does not last forever. Furthermore, it's not like they haven't tried other options as many people DO try to get help before attempting suicide. In fact, studies indicate that more than 50 percent of suicide victims had sought medical help in the six months prior to their deaths. Tai wasn't sure if Shiho had done the same thing, but in the end, he felt that she must have tried some other solutions before it all came down to this. "Would you like to explain to me what you're doing up there? Cause it looks to me that you're about to make a HUGE mistake." He questioned whilst holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

Upon hearing his question, Shiho glanced to the side, her lower lip trembling violently as she shook her head in a wild, erratic manner. "I'm... I'm sorry, but you won't get it. I… I can't! I just can't take it anymore!" She bellowed at him, making Tai pause his motion temporarily. Nobody would have been able to understand why she had told him that right then and there, but they could make some pretty good guesses if they had the knowledge, just as Tai himself did. "I… I've tried to, but… there's nothing at the end of the tunnel… there's no end to this torment… nobody will believe me, nobody will care… not my colleagues… fellow students… my family…"

"Then why not me?" Tai questioned, bringing her attention back to him as her eyes flickered in surprise at his words. Taking another step forward, the male mentally measured the distance between them and found that he had cleared the halfway point here. So far so good, then. "I may not know you, nor you me, but perhaps that's a good thing? If you feel that way, then perhaps talking with someone whose a stranger may be easier than you'd think. No way will I judge you or anything, no way. Besides…" taking a gulp, Tai decided that a good way to stop Shiho from making this mistake would be to be himself, thus revealed a little bit about himself. "How could I when I want to repay you what I owe?"

"What you… owe me…?"

Tai nodded, understanding in his eyes. He didn't blame her for not getting it since she hardly knew a thing about him, and thus suddenly proclaiming that he owed her something would have confused her. However, anything would be better than what she was currently about to do, so he took the opportunity provided. "Sure, since out of everyone in School, you're the only one aside from one other person who actually treated me with a form of kindness and respect. Let's just say that I don't take that lightly, so please, let me repay my debt to you by helping you out. You don't have to worry about me blabbering, I'll keep my gob shut, you have my word on that, and know this: I NEVER…" Tai put much more pressure on that last word there to further compound it into Shiho's mind that he meant it, more so than the rest. "…Go back on my word. So, go ahead, talk to me. Let me know what you've been feeling this whole time…"

Standing there, Shiho remained stunned, gobsmacked even, amongst other emotions rolling about inside of her like a hot mixture being cooked inside a pan. She could hardly comprehend what this boy before her was saying, his words almost sounding incoherent inside her mind. No longer could she believe in just words anymore, not after everything which she had gone through, in her eyes words no had no more meaning, no more 'weight'. No, it would be more accurate to say that they never had much weight in the first place, not since she came to this School. However, the look in his eyes, the sheer emotion in them, they were expressed clear enough for her to get the gist of what he had been saying to her, what he truly wanted to do.

How long had it been since someone had even shown her this level of honesty? Of earnest desire to help her, to hear her side of the story? Way too long, since nowadays people at School hardly gave a damn about her or the other Volleyball Team members anymore, with the male students having more and more bruises every day and… well, lets just say the male students got off lightly compared to the female ones. She couldn't talk to anyone, not her parents since they were too busy fawning over the fact that she was studying under a former pro athlete, she didn't have any friends here since the only one she did have had to move away, plus people had already spread rumours about her shortly after the start of her first year, alienating her. The staff, she had quickly come to realize wouldn't be able to help either.

Just as she made to open her mouth to say something to him, however…

**(Ost End)**

**(Play Persona 5 OST - Desire)**

Memories came flooding back to the forefront of her mind:

Wetness from unending tears,

Hungry lips,

Disgusting hands over her body,

Sounds of tearing,

Pain filling her very being for hours on end,

Inhuman grunting,

Emptiness,

And lastly resignation.

Not only this, but on Tai's end the male noticed the breeze slightly picking up, causing her skirt to flutter… which drew his attention to her groin area, and what he saw made his warming blood become icy cold once again: blood, mixed with a clear liquid that smelled utterly vile to his Draconian nose. 'Oh… Oh no…' he thought as horror sunk into his spine… which only got reinforced by the look of the spark which Shiho had once been reigniting within her eyes to die out again as darkness regained its hold, a resigned and defeated smile forming on her lips.

"I'm sorry… Thanks for worrying about me… goodbye…"

"No, wait!"

Instincts ran wild in him as Tai burst forth with speeds that he had only displayed when donning his Synchro Jacket. If it were on right now then he would have tried to form fiery thrusters to increase said speed, and for some reason he didn't think to don it. His brain had been too stunned and drawn to the horrific realization of what happened next. Shiho, still with that defeated look on her face, fell backwards over the ledge as Tai desperately jumped over the fence to reach for her hand, fighting wildly to get to her and save the broken girl's life so he could mend it and help her move on. He did manage to reach over the fence with his abdomen being his sole support on top of it, as he reached out to grasp her hand...

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

… He missed, by a good couple centimeters.

Suzui Shino fell to the merciless ground head first, her death occurring instantly on impact.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Whelp, I did say at the beginning that this was going to be dark, right? **

**As you all may have realized by now, this is a Persona 5-based Arc, which focuses again on the beginnings of Tai and Vritra's adventures. Though I will say that this one was particularly hard to write for multiple reasons, mostly due to the content which I used. At the start things were hunky dory, but the more I got into it, the more I started to wonder: what if Shiho actually DIED at this point? Plus, I made it so that she didn't have her friends by her side, her parents aren't too supportive either (it always baffled me that her parents didn't do much when Shiho had CLEAR signs of abuse and suicidal thoughts, just pulled her from the School AFTER she nearly killed herself. 10/10 parenting there, guys, though in all fairness they're not the worst), plus I once heard how Japan has high suicide rates...**

**Suddenly I can see a possible reason why the Isekai Genre's so massive and oversaturated now. Escapism is a powerful thing...**

**Moving on from that topic, this dark ending was thus created, and I did NOT like it. Emotionally anyways, but I felt that this was necessary so that Tai would have a more personal goal in light of taking Kamoshida's Synchrogear, and the man himself, down for good. As you can see, not only does Tai value those who he trusts with Chad showcasing this, but he also has a strong sense of responsibility, pride and honour. This is covered by the slight arrogance he displayed in thinking that he could prevent more casualties... something which has pretty much backfired on him now. Plus, now we have the death of Shiho (which still saddens me) whereas Kanade's fate is still unknown. **

**I think that you all can guess the contents of the next chapter, then. I'll likely try to make it the last one of this arc, then make preparations for the next one... all before going back to OEG since I've started on the prep work for the Lowee arc. **

**Let me know what you all think.**

**Peace Out!**


	14. Chapter 14 - RAGE!

**Warning, LONG Chapter ahead!**

* * *

**Chapter 14 – RAGE!**

**"****Yeah… I failed to save her. Shiho's death would go on to be confirmed by medics and other witnesses, and a few weeks later she would have a funeral with only a few close relatives attending. I had heard that her family had major expectations for her to succeed as a Volleyball player s, no matter how damaged she would look when coming home very few of them would have actually given a damn about her. The funeral had only been a formality, a necessary annoyance to 'portray' a sense of family in he Suzui Household, though it'd be anything but that. I know this cause I checked them out, Hibiki, after the whole shitstorm that followed…"**

* * *

**(Play Devilman OST – Crybaby)**

How long had it been? He couldn't tell, all ability to feel the flow of time had instantly left him the moment that he saw the sight of Shiho's corpse on the ground, twisted and mangled beyond recognition thanks to the fall as well as her own previous injuries. A large pool of blood had formed beneath the young girl's head thanks to the extensive hole in it caused by the fall, something which he did NOT want to describe aby further than that even if he could see the cold dead eyes looking up at him, or rather looking at nothing anymore.

His breath caught itself in his throat as Tai forgot the ability to breathe, remaining motionless as he stared downwards, his eyes darkened behind his glasses and looking just as dead to the world as the corpse down below did. His mouth hung open, so much disbelief flowing through him that he didn't see the sight below as even real or not. Heck, he didn't react to any kind of outside stimulus, nothing could get through to him.

This…

This just happened.

It did, there was no denying it.

It took a while, but those thoughts broke through the haze in his mind, allowing Tai to eventually manage to recognize the sight before him as an actual thing, and not some kind of hallucination generated to mess with him. It helped that there were a number of screams coming from various parts around the School, with some students already proceeding to head out of the building itself into the yard where Shiho's corpse landed. These combined factors finally did the job of snapping the male out of the trance which he had fallen into, his form still hanging across the fence like clothes on a washing line, with his hand still outstretched down towards where she had fallen, almost as if it were still trying to reach out for that which had already fallen way beyond its ability to reach.

Yet, as his mind returned to clarity, so did several different facts which felt like multiple strikes to the gut from a sledgehammer.

The biggest one being his failure.

'She's dead…'

His failure to save this hurting young girl who had felt so cornered, so broken and defeated that she saw the only way out of this hellish situation she had been in being in the cold, silent embrace of death. He didn't want to believe it, but the truth stared up at him in a cold, silent manner as if mocking him, mocking him for thinking that he could stop this situation from claiming the lives of innocents. His whole body trembled as he slowly but surely managed to fling himself off the fence, down onto the rooftop behind him. He landed on his back first, and perhaps he should have felt some kind of response at the moment of collision, but right now he didn't even care anymore, as he looked up to the merciless heavens above. 'Why…? Why?!' the male thought, the very first thought that his brain managed to process and yet it seemed to personify everything which filled him at this moment. Why did this happen? What had gone wrong?

It didn't help that he had failed to protect her before he could repay his debt to her, either. There was a time when he had once heard the following: that to owe someone a debt wasn't that bad, but not paying that debt back was. Whelp, Shiho had gone and done it, she had committed successful suicide before Tai could find a way to pay her back for treating him with respect instead of mocking him like other students did. Thus, he would likely have to shoulder this debt for the rest of his life, something which hurt him deeply since Tai NEVER liked owing people anything, so if anyone did something good for him he would do his best to repay that favour.

However, thanks to recent events… this exception had to be made.

Everything had gone so well before; he had tried to do what he had been advised to do by that article. He had tried to get Shiho talking, to distract her from thoughts of ending the life which she had spent so long developing up till this point. Tai had been so careful, he'd been SO FREAKING careful not to say the wrong thing as they could have triggered something which could have reversed the process… only, somehow it got reversed anyways, and because of that everything he'd tried wen to a complete waste. He just couldn't get it, what happened that switched things around so fast that it resembled a freaking 180 shift? Mentally, the teen rummaged through his memories of the conversation before for any kind of sign, any kind of information which could explain how this had all went to hell in a mad attempt to find some sort of reason or logic behind it.

Yet, nothing came to him… so could it have been something to do with something on Shiho's end…?

**(OST END)**

'Wait, there WAS something that I noticed before… the blood and liquid…' Just then, memories flashed through his mind as Tai shot upwards into an upright sitting position. His eyes regained the light that they lost as he quickly got into a thinking position on the ground, his brain spiralling into a whirlwind of activity. Part of him wanted to see if he could see what had happened to make Shiho go over the edge like that, and part of him wanted to see if this could lead to a means of paying back the debt that he owed her. If something had happened to her that caused her grief, maybe he could do something about it even if she wouldn't be… around, to see it.

**(Play Prototype 2 OST - Resurrection)**

It didn't take him long to identify the end result though.

The blood…

That strange clear liquid with its stench…

There could only have been one thing that could have those kinds of things as a result.

A sickening feeling squirmed within his gut as Tai slowly stood upright, his eyes flashing with a newfound anger as all his previous emotions got cast aside. The more he thought about the possible hardship that Shiho had went through, the more that it made a disturbing amount of sense. Tai could guess who the perpetrator was by process of elimination, so the identity of that person wouldn't be too hard to figure out. Volleyball practice, getting regularly beat up, the things he had seen in that Synchrogear… there was no question about it in his mind:

Shiho had been raped… and brutally at that.

By none other than Kamoshida.

There was literally no other person who could have done it, Tai had first thought perhaps it could have been another member of the Volleyball Team, but upon recalling their states of being, both physically and mentally, that idea soon had soon flown out the window. It wasn't likely that it could have been another teacher either, although Kamoshida could have allies up top backing him up, that WAS a likely possibility. The moment that these revelations struck him, Tai began to feel something else inside of his soul, something which he had a LOT of experience with as they all came rushing back into the forefront of his brain with crystal clear clarity.

A sickening feeling.

Boiling Blood.

Resentment.

Frustration.

RAGE.

Yeah, in the end what had happened to her wasn't something which Tai hadn't seen before. There were just too many poor souls out there who get wrongfully used and sullied for another's personal gain. Such characters exist everywhere in the world, no matter where one looked, nobody could escape this fact no matter how hard they tried. To them, they are the 'strong' and the 'law' will not persecute them due to the loopholes they found about it… that, and the general corruption that the system has become. Money, Bribery, forging of evidence, bias, all of it dominated the criminal justice system. In the end, that's just how the system was these days, all thanks to those up top letting their power get to their heads and falling victim to the sick temptations of their own desires. Like the saying went: He who stares too long into the abyss, the abyss shall stare back at him.

Shiho had just become another one of countless victims… and he had been unable to save her.

Kamoshida did this to her… not only did he rape her, adding to a mixture of issues that resulted in her committing suicide, but he pretty much stomped over everything she stood for… not to mention insulted Tai by extension. 'This… this cannot stand…' the male thought, and though his thoughts sounded out like quiet whispers inside his mind, the amount of rage present in them remained so bright that each letter felt like the sun itself, scorching his brain and filling him with the flames of vengeful desire. He may not be able to do anything to Kamoshida directly yet, since he didn't have any physical evidence and it was just him against a well-respected member of society with money, power and resources at his side, however destroying the Synchrogear in his possession felt like it would DEFINITELY have a lasting impact on him. A Synchrogear and its user were linked on a very deep level, he found this out through Vritra, so what would happen if that link were to be destroyed abruptly? Well, Kamoshida COULD end up dying, but at this point the male didn't care. If he died, then that was that and his debt could be settled…

However, if it had a long-lasting effect on him that would be even better. The guy would be forced to suffer for the rest of his life that way.

As someone who had intended to repay his debt to her, the male clenched his fists as he stood tall, his teeth gnashing together as the pupils in his eyes started to tremble, as if one stop away from shifting into their slitted forms. '… Vritra.'

**[… This one knows what you're thinking, human.]**

'And do you intend to try and stop me…?'

**[No. Like your thoughts said, your draconian pride was tarnished just now by someone who violated your ideals for his own sick satisfaction. Us Dragons have torched entire villages for less.]**

'… Got it. I'll be entering the Palace from here, then. I don't think I'll be able to end up anywhere I recognize, but right now I don't give a damn. This isn't going to be an infiltration anymore, its an all-out INVASION.' Tai thought back to is draconian Tenant, his clenched fists starting to tremble like they were miniature earthquakes, his form already proceeding to get enveloped by his Purgatory Flames as a sign of the Synchro Jacket's deployment.

Perhaps if he were slightly calmer, he would have pondered waiting till school was over, so that he didn't have to risk any Students noticing what he was doing. However, A: he stood alone on the school's rooftop so the chances he would be found out were negligible at best, and B: Tai wanted to finish this NOW, he didn't give a damn about anything else at the moment, his very soul DEMANDING that he seek retribution. Perhaps in this way he could somehow repay his debt to Shiho by avenging her in his defeating the 'devil' who claimed her life.

By the time a couple seconds finished, Tai stood in his all black outfit, coat tails fluttering down to the ground behind him as he felt Vritra wordlessly bring them into the Palace…

Officially starting the beginning of the end.

**(OST END)**

* * *

**(Play Persona 5 OST - King, Queen and Slave)**

Within the Palace Itself…

**_"_****_AHHHH, THIS IS THE LIFE…" _**

A certain caped man wearing only a speedo lay on his bed like the king he believed himself to be, hands on the bed behind him for support purposes as he watched multiple female entities kneeling before him, licking his shaft like a lollipop if one caught his meaning. The room he was in, well, think of it as a Throne room with the bed shaped like a love heart with countless rose petals falling down everywhere, the ultimate symbols of the desire he held within his being: lust. Various love heart designs could be seen scattered across the walls, ceiling and other essentials that the room provided him as its sole rightful master. A Master who currently needed some stress relief after some… recent events, shall we say, that had left him rather unsatisfied.

Thus, this would be what these sluts were for.

Both females had the appearances of some high school students currently attending the school, although he didn't bother to learn of their names and only concerned himself with how they wore nothing but gym bloomers. They each wore some skimpy ass clothing that he had personally selected from his expansive wardrobe, as well as watched them change into with eyes glimmering like passionate embers, licking his lips with an unquenchable hunger. He didn't feel the need to hide his lust right now, and it wasn't like he would be challenged by anyone since he was the undisputed 'King' of this 'Castle'. These two hoes wouldn't rat him out either since they had been 'trained' to know what was good for them, trained to worship and love him as both their benevolent ruler as well as their master.

**_"_****_YEEESSSSS, JUST LIKE THAT, YOU SLUTS. PLEASE YOUR MASTER AS HE IS THE ONLY REASON YOU TWO ARE ALLOWED TO EXIST." _**The King declared with a deep laugh, his two 'servants' eager to please him as they obeyed his commands, as evident by the quickening of their activities. His throat constantly released hums of satisfaction at their actions, as well as the wet licking, slurping and spalling sounds which came from them whilst he clicked his fingers, prepping to summon more Servants to attend to his needs. To him, this was the life that he wanted, this was the life he DESERVED for his contributions to the Castle. A King was always a busy person, he needed something to relieve him every now and then… which turned out to be on several occasions each day.

As he got his stress 'relieved', the King looked up at the ceiling as he remembered what had recently gone down in the 'human' world, and a disdainful scoff escaped his lips as he forced the two servants to work harder by pressing his hands on the backs of their heads.

It didn't matter to him if one of his 'toys' were to be 'broken' enough from being worn down over time, since he had PLENTY of them to choose from. That dumb bitch (he couldn't remember her name; did she even have one? Meh, he waved it off mentally) who got herself killed may have had a nice tightness to her, but that's pretty much all she had going for her, she likely wouldn't have made it very far in life as anything less than a stress reliever. Her volleyball skills would never have matched a professional like him, too, and if she dared try to show him up like what had happened a few times in the past… well, he could always teach her in place within the privacy of his office.

Thus, with the 'protection' guaranteed him by the School Principal, the King felt assured that, as long as he provided results to his peers, his life of luxury and pleasure in this School would be a fulfilling one.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

**(OST END)**

Just as he felt himself about to release, the King gasped to himself when all of a sudden, the tranquillity his Palace provided got disrupted by a loud explosion sound, followed by rumbling one which caused his entire room to tremble like it were close to an Earthquake high on the Richter scale. Several surprised cries escaped his 'providers' as some of the objects in his room flew about like projectiles, impaling them and, like the fragile dolls that he thought them as, caused the two to vanish similarly to the Shadows that guarded his Castle.

Of course, the King did NOT appreciate this.

**_"_****_WHAT? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE?! GUARDS, REPORT!"_**

Quickly as he got up and adjusted his speedo, the King started heading for the door with a largely pissed off look on his features, and just before he could open it the door itself opened for him, allowing a large golden Knight to jog inside and kneel before the King. **_"King Kamoshida! It appears that intruder had entered your domain once more! Only, the Intruder's seemingly on a Warpath, many of our forces have been lost!"_**

**_"_****_WHAT?!"_**

* * *

**(Play Yakuza 0 OST - Force Addiction)**

BOOM!

CRASH!

SMASH!

BASH!

BOOM!

BOOM!

CRASH!

SMASH!

BASH!

BOOM!

BOOM!

CRASH!

SMASH!

BASH!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Emboldened by his righteous fury, the black-haired teen strolled along through the Palace, unsure as to where he was but kept on going anyways. After entering the Palace thanks to Vritra, Tai had pretty much launched a one-man invasion of the whole place, releasing HUGE torrents of his Purgatory flames that burned away large quantities of Shadows either in their Knightly disguises or their true forms, the flames didn't discriminate. Anything that his flames touched got swept away and out of existence, burned into that fate thanks to the flames' cursed nature.

Heh, to already be calling those flames his own when in reality they belonged to Vritra, the one whom deemed it a necessity to let him use them…

Kind of arrogant if one thought about it.

Still, as furious as he felt inside, Tai couldn't find it in himself to care at the moment. In fact that extended to his current location, as he currently didn't care to see where he was on his Map of this damned place, since he only cared about pretty much wrecking the entire palace. By the end of this day, Tai vowed to completely WRECK this Palace and destroy the Synchrogear that made it… then perhaps he could make it so that Kamoshida committed suicide somehow, or just kill him outright… or he could just torture the man till he broke, the decisions, the decisions…

His form, bathed in a crimson coloured aura whilst his equally crimson eyes shined fiercely like an entity from hell itself, strode through what seemed to be a corridor of sorts that he hadn't visited previously, although he DID eventually find himself walking through some kind of hidden entrance and going through the Chapel (AKA the Gym). Even his anger-fuelled mind could tell where he was at that point, though he made sure to bathe it in its entirety in his black flames. The carpets burned to nothingness, revealing the floorboards underneath that also suffered their wrath, same with the furniture whilst the large statue of Kamoshida in his gym outfit got reduced to a pile of liquid in seconds. It didn't take very long for the entire damn Chapel to literally become an unrecognisable mess in the wake of his flames.

After this, the male glanced to his right as the flames receded back to his person, forming a ring around him. He soon took note of a set of stairs that spiralled upwards, which hinted to him that to proceed, he likely would have to follow them. His flames swirled like a chaotic tornado around him, shooting several streaks forth which quickly latched onto and consumed the Stairs whilst forming shapes similar to what they devoured, allowing the male to step up on them whilst they did the same towards the walls. Tai glanced at the burning flames with his glowing, predatory eyes, a brief thought breaking through the angry haze clouding his mind right now. 'It won't be long now, Shiho… this Dragon will avenge you…' he thought in determination whilst his aura flared outwards for a few seconds, and then returning to its previous state. One could almost say that it had just 'pulsed' at this moment in time, too.

**[Calling yourself a Dragon, are we? Hah, this one finds amusement in your jokes. Boy, you have MUCH to learn before you could ever reach the pinnacle of our might.]**

Vritra's voice broke through the angry haze as easy as one breathed air, breaking Tai from his thoughts and getting his attention. A brow twitched in irritation at the comment, but in all fairness, Tai did think that Vritra had a point there. 'I… guess your right on that one, if anything I'd see myself as barely a hatchling at this point. Never really could picture myself as someone who could identify with people very much anyways…' The male thought anyways as he soon discovered that he was almost at the Stairs' top, with his flames having rapidly devoured the tower they were in. The male watched as small embers fell down towards the space below from above and beside him, literally showering him with embers that rapidly consumed fallen pieces, causing a slight frown to form on his face. 'Hmmm, looks like the Purgatory Flames are as hungry as ever… Not like this will stop me from destroying it, but this could pose a problem. Now that I think about it, this Tower and everything else I destroyed likely won't be coming back, huh… will that be problematic for me later?'

**[Unlikely. This one can sense the enemy Synchrogear's power already, its trying to keep the Palace stable despite my Flames ripping it apart faster than it can regenerate. Though, it would be wise for you to only destroy what you pass so it doesn't hinder your ability to proceed. However, do be aware that as much as you can destroy this place, this one believes that only when this world's core is destroyed will the Palace be truly beyond saving.]**

'I see… got it. Bet that I will have to blast apart that fake King then. That makes me smile in joy at least…' Tai thought as he did that same expression… although anyone who saw it would mistake it for a slasher's smile at best, and a downright maniacal one at worse. When he finally reached the top, the male looked out from the flaming tower, finding himself standing atop what looked to be… some kind of rooftop or yard. A yard which had a floor made from Tiles, and various boxes arranged into their own shapes across it. Furthermore, the teen noticed that this yard was connected to several structures, one of said structures connecting to a massive, looming tower. The male's eyes brightened considerably as he saw this, his fists clenching within his coat pockets. 'That must be the Tower there… now that I'm this close, I can feel it myself, that there's a powerful energy rolling off that Tower in waves. That must eb where this Palace's 'Core' resides… I'm this close to my goal, at last. Now that I think about it, my little invasion will have garnered that stupid speedo-wearing fuck's attention by this point, so I guess I can expect some resistance from him soon. What do you think, Vritra, how strong do you think the 'King' is?'

**[Hmmm, this one believes that this one's strength far exceeds that of the stupid King here, by a wide margin. Dragons have ALWAYS caused great terror in Kingdoms throughout the ages, after all. In terms of power scaling without taking this one into consideration, this 'King' will likely be the strongest enemy we have faced so far. There's a reason he is able to control so many Shadows in this Palace after all.]**

That so, huh… well, there were still some things which didn't make sense about this specific Synchrogear, its workings and the like. As much as he wanted to just raze it to the ground, Tai A: lacked the power for that kind of assault, and B: according to what Vritra had stated it would be apparent that as long as the King himself and the Core were still around, then the Palace could restore itself indefinitely. Vritra's purgatory flames may negate injuries, but that doesn't mean that the Palace can't 'detach' what they have touched and recreate it. For the King to be the strongest foe yet also made sense though, yet Tai couldn't wait to be able to face him. Heck, he literally took out his gloved hands to crack his knuckles in anticipation whilst striding forwards, a sea of flames steadily consuming the space behind him.

Of course, no sooner had he done so did Tai see several dozen Shadows appear from the ground around him, and with his Third Eye ability he found them to be significantly strong ones too. 'Of course, the King sends more grunts to me. Just like sending lambs to the slaughter…' The male thought to himself, rolling his glowing eyes as he noticed that the Shadows had already proceeded to shift into their true forms, forcing him to get into his battle stance. This little 'setback' wouldn't stop him though, not by a long shot as he once again pocketed his hands and allowed his flames to surround him, since for once Tai didn't feel like making tactics against these guys at the moment, instead he'd take them out in one fell swoop.

* * *

"Now THIS is what I'd call a decent obstacle…"

Following that battle, whereas he had to launch one quick and large fiery blast similar to the Chaos Blast attack from the edge lord of the sonic franchise 'Shadow', Tai finally found his first 'true' obstacle after ascending this weird as fuck tower. Apparently due to being so close to the Palace's Core made some reality warping shit happen, not like it impeded his progress much. Outside, he could still hear the dying screams of countless Shadows as the flames consumed them without mercy nor discrimination… exactly what SHOULD happen should someone dare invoke his wrath.

The obstacle itself turned out to be a long metal bridge, held in suspension above a pit of long, wicked-looking spikes that could easily impale multiple humans at once. The Bridge itself had a single hole in its middle whilst it connected to the other side, the things holding it above that pit being long, large Chains. However, this wasn't the most noticeable trait this obstacle possessed, no, that honour belonged to the swinging large crescent shaped blades that swung like pendulums in a clock. The sounds of metal slicing through metal rung out every time that he saw them, Tai noticing through the Third Eye that their rate of swinging would make getting through them quite a risky move… if he didn't at least try to deactivate them first.

** [Just blast it with my fire. This is taking too long.]**

A frustrated sentence escaped his Tenant and flowed through his mind abruptly, causing Tai to roll his eyes and mentally picture the face which the Dragon must have been making at that moment. However, it didn't take him long to adhere to those words since Vritra's opinion of him affected their Synchro Rate, meaning that he had to take his opinion into consideration here. As such, Tai held his right hand out towards the blades, closing his eyes as he recalled everything which he had learned about his flame manipulation.

When manipulating his Purgatory Flames, Tai found that it acted as if an extension of his own body, in which it didn't take him long to realize that this had been what he had recognized it as. Because of how closely linked he was to Vritra, Tai had a particularly strong connection to these flames, making them the best weapon in his arsenal not to mention that the great potential these flames had when utilized could not be overstated. There were other things that he'd discovered about them too, like their ability to morph into any shape that he had wished, there seemingly being no limits to it aside from his own imagination. With all the fighting that he'd done, it wouldn't be a stretch to note that Tai had indeed noticed the great potential the Purgatory Flames possessed, and whilst it would take time for him to properly explore that potential, he WAS a Synchrogear Wielder only for a couple days after all, but in the current moment, he felt like he had enough control and understanding for what he wanted to do next.

With his right hand outstretched, Tai focused on what he wanted to do after pushing those other thoughts back into his mind's library of information. In that moment, black flames formed just above his palm, spiralling inwards like a whirlpool and generating an ENORMOUS amount of heat… heat which he repressed deep within the flames themselves. Once he felt he had enough a few seconds later, did the male shift his focus into morphing the flames further, shaping them into the ideal image which he had planted inside his mind. It honestly reminded him of how sculptors, artists and the like created their own works, for it took time, patience and effort to form the finished product…

Which turned out to be a fiery Missile of all things by the time Tai opened his crimson eyes and flexed his fingers outwards, launching the Missile with all the power stored inside being released in a single burst. The instant this happened, the missile shot forth faster than a bullet train going at its maximum speed, tearing through space like a ravenous beast as it expanded to the point where the majority of the corridor's space got filled with its presence. The Missile shot through and pretty much ANNIHILATED the blades in front of him, the greedy and devouring nature behind them making it much easier for Vritra's flames to penetrate the blades and leave nothing left of them. By the time the missile had reached the other side and extinguished itself, only a means to proceed forwards presented itself before him, two literal WALLS made from his flames on either side.

It looked… goddamn gorgeous.

A smile of appreciation tugged at Tai's lips as he leisurely strode on through, the flames remaining behind him as they devoured what lay before them.

* * *

After a bit more exploring and scaling up the Tower from the inside, of which he had to take out a Shadow in the form of a Golden Knight which turned out to be… a penis head/slime hybrid with a bit of white on top (yeah, the less said about that the better), Tai reached a rather large door. The door itself looked to be at least 15 meters tall, with various extravagant designs drawn onto it, making it really easy for the hooded male to identify this to be the Throne Room. It helped that the Map specifically labelled this as the throne room, which conveniently had the 'Core' as a treasure box right behind it. 'Alright, looks like I'm close to this place's core… I'll perform a quick scan with my Third Eye in case that stupid king has any form of defence here.' Tai thought, activating said ability.

However, by the time the deed was done… He got nothing, not a single outline which could suggest that there was anybody inside the Throne Room. 'Hm? That's odd, I would have thought there'd be at least SOME form of guard detail here… is this King REALLY that incompetent in that e believed nobody would be able to make it this far inside his own Castle?' Tai wondered, frowning in confusion.

**[Take the 'side entrance' above you to your left. This one does not wish to partake in many more annoyances.]**

Following Vritra's words, Tai glanced to the side and noticed… a pillar shaped like a feminine human torso wearing a gym uniform with the but sticking out very suggestively, causing him to face palm. Deciding to not focus too much on this in favour of the task at hand, Tai quickly leapt on top of the pillar, bouncing up onto a side entrance the shape and size of a window… finding himself atop a long walkway covered by crimson carpet. There was also a railing to the right side covered with large green bushes and rose flowers, matching flower petals swiftly falling down from them to create this rain of flower petals throughout the room.

From his position, Tai glanced through the gaps between the bushes towards the space below, having found himself on an upper walkway which curved around like a U turn a few meters away… only to find a throne in the centre where the source of Tai's simmering fury stood, furiously barking at several knights. Several Knights who looked to be lowering their helmets in apology to the middle-aged bastard, in Tai's opinion anyways. 'Looks like those assholes have some members left after all… Probably stayed in the Tower since the very beginning.' The male mused mentally, although it also made him question why the heck the guy just didn't order them to surround the Throne room or block off the entrances to said room. There looked to be at least 20 Shadows there, so it could have been doable, but he didn't think on it too much since he had long since considered this guy a lost cause in terms of idiocy.

With a shake of his head, Tai mentally debated on whether or not he should just deck the guy right here and now, something which felt VERY tempting as he remembered how he had come to be here in the first place. Not only did the guy have him imprisoned, personally try to torture him for his own amusement like he had every right to decide whether Tai lived or died, but he did the despicable thing of raping Shiho and forcing her to commit suicide, right before he could repay his debt to her too. He had MULTIPLE reasons to do this, or he could just go to the Palace Core and destroy it there, thoroughly wrecking this Palace for good. He didn't know what kind of effects this might have on the Teacher, not like he cared personally, plus it wasn't like he could find some guide online about how Synchrogears like this one worked either, it DID work a lot differently to Vritra's Synchrogear after all.

Whilst he made this choice, Tai then noticed something, something which quickly settled his choice for him... the King, or should he start calling him Shadow Kamoshida…? He didn't care either way since the King immediately called an end to the 'briefing' between him and his remaining minions before he had them vacate the Throne Room. He then held out an arm behind him, towards a back entrance towards where Tai figured the 'Core' had been stored away... only for some sort of crown large enough to fit on someone's head to come flying out and land into his hand.

'... That must be the Core of this world.'

**[Indeed... I can sense it to be the thing which is used to keep this Palace in place. Destroy that, and this whole mess of a place follows.]**

Vritra commented on the Crown itself, all whilst gazed at the crown with unhindered lust and desire in his eyes, matched only by the sickening grin spreading across his face. _**"THAT INTRUDER WILL BE AFTER YOU, MY PRECIOUS..."**_ He whispered under his breath whilst caressing it gently like he were holding a fragile doll. **_"BUT DON'T WORRY, LOVELY. I _****_WON'T LET ANYBODY TAKE YOU AWAY FROM ME... YOU ARE THE PROOF THAT I AM KING OF THIS CASTLE, THE CORE OF MY WORLD. IF THAT INTRUDER DARES TO TRY ANY FUNNY BUSINESS WITH YOU..."_**

SCHWING!

_**"?!"**_

In that moment, a slight disturbance in the air got felt by the 'King', causing his eyes to widen in alarm as his instincts screamed at him to duck. The man did so, and good thing that he did since that would have been his only warning before a long 'Spear' made from black flames shot through the space above his head aimed at the hand holding his precious 'Crown'. then had to roll across the ground when multiple more Spears shot through the air from multiple directions, all aimed at his Crown, though luckily for him the speedo-wearing Teacher managed to avoid them, rising up to his feet afterwards. Seeing another Spear launched in his direction, the King's eyes flashed yellow as his expression turned into that of a savage beast for one moment, something coming out from behind his cloak and whacking the Spear away from him.

Each Spear then extinguished themselves as their source, Tai, quickly jumped out of his hiding place and launched several fireballs from his space above the corrupt King. quickly hopped to the side to avoid them, howling angrily at him though his furious roar went ignored by the black dressed teen as he landed on the ground and stood up. As soon as he did so however, his eyes slightly enlarged in surprise whilst he raised his right hand to catch an incoming fist aimed towards his face, a loud and large shockwave erupting from the collision that blew his coat tails backwards.

Even so, something caught Tai's attention as he glared at the offender, something which ignited his curiosity although he doubted that the enemy would have the intent to talk after his little sneak attack. 'This guy...'

Meanwhile, the source of the punch, the King, glared heatedly at his newest attacker, utter loathing written all over. _**"YOU...!"**_

**"Yeah, me."** Tai simply responded, throwing the King's fist to the side and launching a jab with his left hand toward the guy's abdomen. This strike didn't land though, since the King deflected it just like Tai had done, leading to the male performing an elbow strike with his right arm that got blocked in the same way, the male then resorting to a jumping roundhouse kick to the King's head. The King ducked under it and raised his left leg to plant its attached foot onto Tai's back, but the male twisted around even faster and launched a second kick, the two strikes colliding and resulting in another stalemate. Landing on the ground and sliding backwards a bit, Tai scowled in the King's direction. **"Been a long time coming, this has you old shitstain."**

_**"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, YOUR KING?!"**_

At hearing the man call him his 'King', Tai bristled with fury under his clothes, although he retained his calm and composed demeanour whilst getting ready to continue. **"For someone who gets off on raping young girls who would be classed as minors, you have no right to be called a 'King'. If anything, you're more of a maggot, an ant that needs to be crushed for being too big for your britches." **Tai taunted with a sneer, his right arm flaring up as it got covered in black flames. He then threw the arm forwards, and a long streak launched off it towards his opponent with the intent to slam into him and send him flying... preferably with the majority of his body reduced to cinders, or perhaps the Crown atop his head destroyed along with any hope of maintaining this Palace.

Yet, just as the streak neared him, the King's lips twisted upwards into a mocking, domineering sneer. He then proceeded to vanish out of thin air, surprising Tai as he appeared right behind the guy with a roundhouse kick aimed towards his face. Fortunately the male managed to raise his non-flaming arm in time to block it, but the force of the attack caught him by surprise and launched him lying backwards instead. **_"HAH! _DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH, YOU MEDIOCRE PEASANT!" **The King declared whilst Tai flipped into an upright position and landed on the ground with a crouch, quite close to one of the Throne room's Pillar's actually. _**"THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH GETTING A LITTLE STRESS RELIEF, NO MATR WHO IT IS YOU'RE TARGETTING. LUST IS INDISCRIMINATE AFTER ALL... NOT TO MENTION ITS FUN SEEING THOSE FOOLISH 'MAIDENS' SUBMIT TO MY WILL."**_

Before Tai could ponder on what that meant, as well as stew in righteous indignation, the King once again closed the distance between them and jumped, launching an aerial Scissor Kick, then twisted a full 360 degrees into a roundhouse kick and finally finishing off with an Axe kick to the head. Tai managed to parry the first two attacks with his non-flaming arm, and when he saw the Axe kick coming at a speed he wouldn't be able to block in time, the teen quickly shot some flames downwards, using them as a thruster to propel himself backwards... right into the Previously mentioned pillar.

**"Shi-!"**

_**"HRAH!"**_

The moment that he realized his position, Tai cursed as he soon felt his abdomen get caved in by a right thrust from the King's fist, causing him to gasp as the maniacally smirking man launched several more attacks in rapid succession, each of them hitting before he grabbed the teen by his right leg and raised him above his head... all before slamming Tai into the Pillar with enough force to shatter it, launching him tumbling across the ground. At this point, the flames on his arm had vanished due to their wielder losing his mental control over them, leaving the arm back to being covered in the usual clothing his Synchro Jacket had.

A surge of victory coursed through his veins at this moment, prompting the King to then howl with laughter like a demented psychopath, revelling in the joy he felt as he beheld the teen struggling to get up to his feet, all the while the King closed the distance between them again by leaping forwards with an elbow strike aimed towards the kid's head to knock him down again, just like the worthless piece of dirt that he truly was.

However, things didn't go according to plan for the King, as Tai quickly blocked the strike with his right firearm, then launched an uppercut fist into the King's jaw as if to say 'shut the fuck up, motherfucker!' before hopping up into the air after him, twisting into a sausage spin that got followed up with a knee to the King's abdomen, slamming him into the ground. Tai didn't let his newfound advantage slip from him however, as he quickly fell down towards the King's prone position utilizing purgatory Flames from his hands akin to thrusters, and then proceeded to flip forwards to bring his heel down on the man's face.

'Got him!'

That's what Tai thought as he saw his heel nearing its target, eyes glimmering in primal bloodlust mixed with unrelenting fury and a desire to punish. However, at the last second the man's eyes shot open from their previously closed states, ad then he managed to roll sideways out of the way, letting the heel slam into the ground where he once lay and create a crater large enough to be considered a six foot grave.

Not wasting any time, Tai hopped out of the Crater and landed just beside its ledge, with the King standing on the opposite side. Tai glared heatedly at his opponent with malice and vengeance blazing in his eyes like the flames that he commanded, resulting in his body's crimson aura to flare like a living flame. On the opposite side, something similar formed around the King whose golden eyes glowed just as menacingly with a matching aura around him to boot. Both of them stared each other down for a brief few seconds, though to them it felt more like an eternity, until Tai eventually spoke up with something that caught the King by surprise. **"You... You're not truly Kamoshida, are you?"**

**_"HAAAAH? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF POINTLESS CRAP ARE YOU MUMBLING ABOUT NOW, COMMONER? SPEAK CLEARLY AS YOUR KING EXECUTES YOU, WORTHLESS MAGGOT!"_**

**"I had a hunch since the fight began, and your words confirmed it. No, that's not right, I had this hunch for a while now since I started learning more about the Synchrogears, and have been waiting till now to get these answers. You... you're not him, I know this cause this entire fight you've felt… different. Your strikes carry an inhuman feel to them, and if one applies some common sense then the source of this whole Palace HAS to be the Synchrogear itself... or rather, the Monster Essence inside of it. So, tell me, who the fuck are you?" **Tai explained, and during so, the male felt a part of himself ridicule him for not realizing that last titbit of information. True he HAD been thinking about the identity of that golden-eyed version of the 'Gym Teacher' as he'd gotten a sneaking suspicion about him, but he had been so busy with discovering about the world of Synchrogears and their properties that it didn't click to him that the source of this Palace would likely be the Synchrogear's contained monster.

Now, the only question that remained, was the identity of said monster.

...

...

...

…

...

...

...

...

…

...

"**_... GEE HEE! GYEEEEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYE_****_GYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYEGYE!"_**

A moment of silence, long and tense, followed suit between these two fighters... one that eventually got shattered when the 'King' started to chuckle in an eerie, creepy manner similar to an old man lusting after some girls in porn books. Not to mention that the entire feel of him changed, his golden aura shifting into a dark purplish pink one with a matching eye colour replacing the gold. That didn't even include how he put his hand over his lips like some giggling schoolgirl after hearing some exciting gossip.

'...OOOOOKAAAAY, now THAT wasn't disturbing in the slightest...' Tai thought sarcastically with one eye closed and a 'tch' expression on his face behind his hood and Mask. Instincts screamed at him to be extra cautious right now, and he obeyed since he did NOT like the way that things had shifted.

_**"AHHHH, HAVEN'T HAD A LAUGH LIKE THAT IN CENTURIES NOW..."**_ The 'King' stated after calming down from his laughing fit, although whether or not it could be called that and instead be called some form of demented psychopathic giggling remained debatable. Reaching for the centre of his heart covered cape, the King fiddled around with it for a moment before out unclasped itself, falling down to his feet and exposing his mostly-naked body to the world (much to Tai's internal disgust), as if it were a form of pride. _**"GYEGYE... YOU REALLY CRACK ME UP, Y'KNOW THAT SUGAR? DIDN'T THINK SOMEONE WOULD FIGURE IT OUT IF I PLAYED MY CARDS RIGHT..." **_

Hearing this, Tai's instincts screamed at him to raise his arm to block or form a fire wall in front of him, to which he performed the latter of the two actions. This resulted in him feeling something 'THWACK' against it, although he didn't see what it was as it retreated far too quickly for him to make out as the wall came down. Even so, the 'King' seemingly stomped his foot into the ground and something jutted out of it... a cup the size and width of a person actually, containing what looked to be... a set of feminine legs. Leering at it with a look of utter lust and desire, the guy then proceeded to grab one of the two legs and went on to 'lick' it up and down the back of the calves. As much as this grossed the teen out, what REALLY made the teen want to throw up was how the tongue seemingly extended itself like it were a tentacle in a porn movie or something, wrapping around the woman's leg akin to a serpent and fondling a certain place not to be touched that way... all the while the guy moaned as if he were under a pleasure-filled stupor. _**"AHHHH, NOTHING BEATS SOME GOOD OL' LEG DAY, BUT THEN AGAIN ALL FORMS OF LUST ARE MY THING, THEY JUST GET MY GROVE ON..."**_

… The levels of disgust in Tai's system just KEPT on rising right now, and they showed NO signs of slowing down at the moment. However, just as he made to summon another Fireball to blast this fucker into oblivion, a thought occurred to him. Something about what this guy was saying and doing seemed kind of familiar to him, not the actions per say but what they represented. As someone who liked to believe himself quite knowledgeable, there was always something about monsters that drew his attention the most, so he usually had a decent amount of knowledge about them. What the guy was doing now however, reminded him of something he'd once looked up, although he mentally prayed that he was wrong. 'Wait, could this thing be...?'

Before he could finish his thoughts, Tai noticed several things, one of them being how the entire room started to tremble as power started to surge up an out of the so-called 'King'. Cracks had started to expand out from under his feet as the king's body started to twist, bend, and flail about erratically similar to someone having a seizure, yet all the while the King kept a sickeningly sweet, seductive smile on his lips whilst staring Tai down. **_"YOU WERE QUITE CLOSE BOY, BUT YOU DID MISS ONE THING: I'M NOTHING LIKE THE WIMP THAT MY PARTNER WAS BEFORE MY AWAKENING_**. _**I AM THE DEMON, WHICH GOVERNS THIS WOOOOOORRRLLLD!"**_

**(Play Persona 5 OST - Blooming Villain)**

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

That proclamation at the end had been so loud that it caused the room to tremble all the more violently, as what could be considered as a horror-fest of a transformation proceeded to take place. Out of the man's waist, a FLOOD of black sludge exploded out of him, spreading across the floor whilst he sank himself into it, cackling like a maniac. The sludge itself, which smelled more sour than a bag full of sour sweets, then created a rising pillar of it in its centre which took the rest of the Sludge with it, allowing the Sludge to morph into a more solid form. Two feet shaped like hooves were created for the form to stand up on, whilst the rest became a mass of tangled up, black slimy Tentacles dripping with a smelly liquid that Tai HOPED was not what he thought it was. Four long bone-less arms erupted out of the tangled mess, flat as a board yet with rubber-like flexibility as they ended in hand-shaped claws with metallic fingers. Furthermore, a long, thick appendage shot out the space between the feet, essentially the groin, whilst forming the head of something which made Tai realize its true nature: a Penis. Didn't help that it looked just like the Tentacles did too. Within the tangled mess, a single slitted purple eye opened up, as well as a long serpentine Tongue with the head of one spewed out, from which came the mad, cynical, sickeningly distorted laughter of the man it had once been.

_**"GYEEE-GYEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEEKEKEKEKEKE! I, ASMODEUS, AM ALLOWED TO DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT!"**_

'... Asmodeus, huh? A Prince of Demons and governs the representation of Lust according to the Binsfield's Classification of Demons...' Tai thought, all sorts of clicks happening in his mind as the pieces fit themselves together as he surveyed this 12 meter tall monstrosity before him. The revelation that this was the Monster Essence within the Synchrogear itself didn't surprise him as much as he thought it would, since from what he'd seen of both the Palace as well as the one who contracted with the Synchrogear itself, it made WAY too much sense. The fact that Demons likely WERE real did surprise him though, but he didn't pay that much heed since he had bigger priorities in mind, like the following declaration as he got into his battle stance. 'Plus, this thing looks like a combination of that Tengela from Pokémon with the arms of its evolved form, with its Tentacles made from those of the Ouroboros Virus from Resident Evil 5.'

**"Asmodeus... I see. Seems fitting that you contracted with that asshole of a teacher."**

_**"HAH! THAT MORON? HARDLY, I'M JUST USING HIM AS MY VESSEL! I'M THE ONE IN CONTROL, I AM THE KING HERE, NOT THAT PRETENDER! BEFORE, HE HAD ONLY BEEN A WIMP WHO ONLY STUCK TO LIGHT GROPING IN HIS OWN OFFICE AND PATHETIC MASTURBATION! ITS ONLY THROUGH ME THAT HE MANAGED TO GET THE BALLS TO DO WHAT HE WANTS, TAKES WHATEVER HE DESIRES!" **_The Demon, Asmodeus that created this Palace, and the true name of the Synchrogear essence that Tai was fighting at the moment, declared with all his might. The multiple arms then flexed their fingers as if stretching them, and from their palms multiple tools brought themselves forth: the lower two arms had a Knife (the left one) and a Fork (the right one), whilst the upper two had two long whips which looked to be made from thorn-covered vines.

Thanks to seeing this, Tai furrowed his brow as he held his hand out in a similar manner to what the other four had done, flames shooting out as if they were fired from a flamethrower. He didn't need any kind of power levelling detection power to notice this guy's power, and it seemed that his theory about this 'King' being the strongest opponent they'd faced so far wasn't that off the mark. He'll have to bring his A game if he wanted to come out victorious, and he WOULD. As someone currently repaying a debt in an unorthodox way, along with some personal motivation, he couldn't afford to do anything less.

From his hand, the flames then reshaped themselves, aligning and thinning until they formed what Tai would call a Daito Japanese longsword. He gripped its fiery 'hilt' tightly whilst the flames seemingly tried to solidify themselves further, but the process failed resulting in him simply holding a fire sword. He'll have to work on that after this, and whilst he wasn't someone who had a specific preference for a weapon, swords in medieval times were quite the versatile weaponry. He'd have to think about what kind of weapons he'd like to use in the future, but right now he had a battle to win... a BIG one at that.

** "Well**,** whatever... how about we end this stalemate, shall we?"**

**(Play Yakuza O OST - Pledge of Demon)**

It didn't take them long to commence fighting, i anything it took less than a second and the first to make a move had been Asmodeus, the impatient bastard that he was. That could have been phrased better inside his mind, but Tai didn't think too much on that since he had to side flip to avoid a wide sweep that the... the Penis thing did, nearly succeeding in making him throw up in utter revulsion. 'Note to self: NEVER let that hit you and take a LONG, cold sower after this... maybe even take some brain bleach.' the male thought as he looked upwards and thrusted his empty hand in the same direction, repeatedly firing a stream of small fireballs to stop a approaching shower of black Tentacles from stabbing into him. He then had to raise his fire sword in order to block a lunge from the Demon's 'tongue', which resulted in him getting knocked the fuck backwards.

By the time that he stopped Tai looked upwards and saw that Asmodeus had already jumped at him, raising its upper arms to swing its dual whips down at him. Not wanting to experience anything even REMOTELY related to SXM in his lifetime, Tai quickly calculated their trajectory in his mind, before stepping into a space in-between the two. His thought process: stand between them so their resulting shockwaves would cancel each other out and NOT blow him the fuck back. Whilst part of him wasn't completely sure of the physics behind that, it seemed to have worked since he didn't suffer any damage when the two Whips came crashing down.

Afterwards though, the teen had to parry one strike from Asmodeus' Knife with his fire sword's pommel, shooting out a thruster of flames from his forearm and using the recoil to increase his manoeuvre's power enough to do so. Hey, to deflect something much larger than one's self, one needs to make use of whatever they can, alright? Anyways, afterwards Tai stabbed his fire sword upwards and locked it into the tongs of Asmodeus' approaching Fork, directing it to the space beside him instead.

_**"HAH, THAT ALL YOU GOT, BOY?! SIMPLY USING PETTY TRICKS WON'T WORK IN THE LONG RUN!" **_Asmodeus declared whilst cackling like a madman with its Penis soon launching itself towards him.

However, instead of dodging, Tai simply grinned as if in victory. **"I'd advise you to not underestimate 'petty tricks', please. Simply look up." **He stated whilst gesturing upwards with his unarmed hand.

_**"HM?!" **_Some heat coming from above alerted the Demon, making its eyes widen as it looked up at the source... only to find a long Spike made from Purgatory flames shooting down as if it were a strike from the heavens themselves. _**'Th-That's...! Ah, those Fireballs from before, he must have been intending this alongside defending himself!'**_ It thought as it remembered thwacking at Fireballs with its Tentacles earlier. However, there had been some that had shot upwards now that it thought back, but it simply hadn't bothered with them, just figured them to be pathetic misses.

Too late to react in time, Asmodeus could only gape as the Spear came crashing down and impaled its Penis swiftly and with a vicious intensity. "_**KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" **_The Demon screamed out from its Tongue, howling with agony as it flailed its arms about, quickly proceeding to try and dislodge the Spear by wrapping its Whips around it to try and pull it out... that is, until it remembered the potency the flames possessed and instead used its Knife to slice its Penis off before the flames could each its main body, leaving only a bloody gaping hole behind.

As much as the sight of a Penis getting severed gave his groin phantom pains (even Vritra winced inside his mind, just like any man would), Tai couldn't help but chuckle deviously. Seeing that disgusting thing being burned into nothingness by his flames felt OH so satisfying to him, considering the recent events, even more so due to how its end came. He only wished he could have done the same to that damn teacher, but considering the words that Asmodeus had said combined with Vritra's, it became clear to him that it and Kamoshida were separate entities working in their own ways without much interference, at least on Kamoshida's end. Thus he couldn't make that Teacher feel the same pain this Demon felt right now.

If anyone asked, Tai wouldn't have been able to aim at the main body since manipulating these flames, especially like this, takes a bit of concentration for his current self, plus he needed to fool his enemy into thinking anything else than those Fireballs so he had too many tasks to focus on so aiming it in front of him felt easier to handle. The fact that he had the Penis as his target just turned out to be a nice bonus.

Not wanting to lose this chance, Tai quickly shifted into an offensive, breaking into a mad sprint as he ran towards his opponent and jumping towards where its eye was. To him, that Eye seemed like a fatal weak spot which he could exploit, and no matter what the body structure is like one's eyes are usually connected to the Brain anyways, so striking at its centre seemed like a plausible battle plan.

Of course, out of reflex and fury Asmodeus launched several Tentacles from its messy, tangled body at him, for the male to bring his non-weapon arm down and smack onto one, using the momentum to flip himself forwards and on top of it. He had to jump off it afterwards due to more Tentacles, but he used them to his advantage by running along them and jumping off towards where its Eye was, his fire sword starting to destabilize due to the power being amassed into it.

With a loud war cry, Tai raised the sword and placed both hands onto it, the blade itself releasing a long stream behind its back edge that propelled it faster whilst Tai ended up swinging diagonally to try and cut the Eye. However, just a second before the attack could hit the male glanced at something out the corner of his eye and saw the Tongue having shot forth towards him and slammed itself into his side, causing him to grit his teeth as he got sent flying away from his target... although out of reflex the male ended up morphing his sword into a Spear and threw it at his enemy right after being struck, hoping to still hit his target...

Shame it only hit the mess of Tentacles instead, which then proceeded to eject it out the exact INSTANT that it entered their domain. Thus, it didn't even get a chance to burn its target.

**"Tch…!" **Tai hissed out a sound of annoyance as he flipped through the air, landing on all fours only to quickly roll to the side in order to avoid a stabbing attempt from Asmodeus' Fork. He then rolled back onto his feet and quickly side flipped, avoiding the slashing strike from the following Knife. 'So, those arms of its can extend, allowing for greater range when sweeping at opponents...' the male noted in his mind as he quickly formed a Firewall in front of him to block several Tentacles from stabbing them, only to glance downwards when hearing a specific crackling sound just in time for another Tentacle to surface between his legs, ramming right into his jaw as if it were performing an uppercut.

_**"HAH, PAYBACK, SLUT!"**_

THWACK!

**"Guh!"**

Whilst in the air, Tai couldn't see the following smack from the right Whip until it was too late, although he reflexively managed to bring a forearm into its path and unleash a small thruster flame to propel himself away from the blow and lessen its impact. Still resulted in him being sent flying though, and Tai had to quickly improvise when he saw that Tongue already lunging at him with several Tentacles, the intent clear inside the Demon's eyes. Instead of letting it grab him however, Tai simply created two Fireballs inside both hands, then pointed them downwards in order to have them spontaneously combust like two small napalm bombs. Upon detonating them, The explosive force did two things: one, throw off the incoming attacks by the Tongue and its Tentacle support, and two: fling Tai higher into the air.

Now located far above the massive monstrosity that was Asmodeus, Tai quickly threw himself into his next offensive, holding his arms outwards with his hands facing upwards. Around him, a series of Fireballs, each of them as large as a human hand, manifested until they numbered at about 30. He then proceeded to fling his arms downwards towards his target, launching all of them down at Asmodeus. Said Demon looked up after recovering from Tai's previous attack, seeing the next one incoming and giving a loud howl in response. _**"MOTHERFUCKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"**_

That loud declaration aside, Asmodeus then proceeded to slice through the Fireballs with its Whips and the other utensils in its lower arms. Each Fireball that fell became a target, the Demon learning from its past mistakes and thus destroyed every single one of them, this lasting only for a few seconds until they had all been extinguished... Though, thanks to the special traits Vritra's flames possessed, each tool looked to have taken considerable damage with the Whips having lost a few of their thorns and the Fork/Knife with some parts of them irreversibly melted off. Guess the Demon had some balls to it (well, it DID...) since it had to strike faster than the flames could touch its weapons to diminish their effects.

_**"HAH! A BRAT LIKE YOU HAS NO PLACE LOOKING DOWN ON ME, THE MIGHTY ASMODEUS!" **_The Demon declared haughtily, laughing deviously at knowing that it had foiled Tai's plans with that attack. It licked something beneath its tongue which had shortened to do so, likely the hidden lips as it howled mockingly towards him, already preparing to launch its Tentacles up at the teen who still remained in the air... thanks to some small thruster flames along his arms and legs. _**"NO SNEAK ATTACKS ON ME FROM THOSE FLAMES, HA-HAAAH!"**_

Instead of looking disheartened by his apparent failure to do much of significant damage to the Demon, all Asmodeus was able to see thanks to the hood and Mask concealing the majority of Tai's face... was simply his smile. Not just any smile either, one which actually had some similarities to the smile he had worn before the... dismissal of its Penis. **"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that..." **He stated, throwing his arms outward again. **"Apparently you failed to do the thing which cost you your little Penis thing earlier: Pay attention to your surroundings..." **At that point, the male's sile widened into a shark-like grin, eyes gleaming intensely as he sensed it: a surging heat behind him. **"Cause if you did, you would have noticed that my ACTUAL target wasn't below me... but ABOVE!"**

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-!

Upon yelling that last word, Tai clicked his right hand's fingers, and following that a series of black fiery explosions erupted throughout the throne room's ceiling. These explosions actually came from a series of small fireballs that he had detonated like living bombs, similar to the ones he'd used before. He'd made a lot of them whilst the enemy had been distracted with his other attack, then tossed them up towards the ceiling which had more than a FEW cracks on it, some of them having been formed by the recent demonic Transformation Asmodeus had done. That fact made exploiting them to shatter the ceiling into tiny pieces that wee falling to the ground currently, all the more satisfying since it basically screamed 'fuck you!' to the enemy. As someone who had the practice of employing simple yet effective battle tactics amongst some specific fire manipulation and some flame-based knowledge, Tai'd come up with a few strategies to dealing with his opponents using his skillset.

Plus, since he had destroyed all but the part of the ceiling directly above him, the rocks fell down towards the ground at high speeds, and with such force that the ground would DEFINITELY be shattered upon impact. Even with this throne Room's shape it was STILL a floor within a Cylindrical tower, so the floors themselves wouldn't be that thick unless they had some decent support. Thus, by destroying that... he'd effectively created his own meteor shower, and to top it all off, Tai created a few fireballs of his own to mix in with the falling debris, something which Asmodeus sensed which caused it to tense up in dread as it figured out what Tai intended to do in the first place:

Destroy the floor beneath them.

_**"GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" **_

A loud howl escaped the Demon's lips as it lost itself in the sudden lack of a proper sitting space beneath it. This of curse resulted in the massive bulking monstrosity to freefall downwards back first through the floor itself, and when it collided with the floor beneath the throne room it fell through that one too thanks to its weight and the impact it created. Multiple floors got caved in thanks to Asmodeus' falling form as the Demon flailed its appendages about wildly, having dropped its weaponry in favour of trying to find a way for it to slow its descent and lessen the impact.

However, since Tai kept launching Fireballs at its hands whenever they neared anything, the Demon's efforts fell short, thus ended in vain when it slammed into the very BASE of the tower... kind of resembling a King being knocked off his throne by a righteous rebellion.

… How fitting.

**(OST End)**

* * *

Down on the bottom floor, at the very base of the tower, things took on the exact opposite of the Throne Room in terms of feel and appearance. With the ground that of stone similar to that of its Dungeon section (which had long since been devoured by the Flames at this point), and there being cylindrical walls surrounding the scene to loom over it like some kind of prison warden dominating his or her charge. In essence, instead of the downright disgustingly gaudy room that Tai had entered earlier, they instead found themselves within this place's cold, isolated atmosphere to the point where it felt downright suffocating.

Slowly regaining its wits and feeling its strength return, Asmodeus gradually placed his four arms on the ground to push himself upwards, having fallen onto itself face first. _**"UGH... GUUUHHHHH... DAMNIT... DAMNIT, DAMNIT! A KING DOES NOT FALL BEFORE SUCH A LOWLY COMMONER..." **_The Demon growled under its breath whilst doing so, its eye starting to shake whilst it radiated bloodlust like a thick miasma covering it, its anger pushing its arms to move faster. Despite their appearance, its arms did indeed have quite the bit of strength to them, although they would have had much more in the fight's beginning. _**"I... I AM ASMODEUS! I REIGN OVER THIS CASTLE! I DOMINATE THE LIVES OF MY SLAVES! I'M THE KING!" **_The Demon howled as if to motivate itself further, utter rage and humiliation coursing through it like blood. By the time that it managed to get onto its feet again and look up upon sensing something up there, it's lone slitted eye shrinking to a smaller size while shock replaced its anger. _**"WHA...?!"**_

**"Hmph… a delusional king, huh?" **

There, floating suspended in the air at least 40 meters above the raging Demon of Lust, was Tai, his feet constantly releasing two thruster-like flames whilst his arms crossed themselves over his chest. But that wasn't what Asmodeus got stunned by, oh no. What he became stunned by was the fact that from the kid's back, dozens of fiery arms protruded outwards, each grabbing a piece of rubble in its finger tips to hold them in such a way that their burning effects don't destroy them too quickly.

_**"?! DON'T TELL ME... YOU INTENDED TO HAVE ME SMASK TO THE BOTTOM SO YOU COULD GATHER ALL THOSE DEBRIS?! YOU'RE INTENDING TO BURY ME ALIVE?!"**_

**"Dead men tell no tales."**

Tai declared whilst his many fiery arms reared themselves upwards in preparation to fling their cargo downwards. The sounds of air being torn apart ripped through the atmosphere like paper Mache being diced by knives, as Asmodeus quickly raised his arms above his head as he howled out in both denial alongside outrage, all before the debris smashed on top of him like rugby players performing the ultimate pile on.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-!

As each piece of debris fell upon his enemy, Tai landed before the rapidly forming pile, the many arms having quickly retreated back inside of him... although a couple seconds later the teen fell down to one knee, a hand on the ground and another on one knee. His body became wracked with a wave of exhaustion, even as he kept his composure and didn't break out into a sweating mess. 'Hmph, looks like I'm running a bit low on power...' The male thought to himself as he slowly got back to his face and started leering towards the pile of rubble still clouded in smoke. Smoke covered the floor around them too, though that little detail remained ignored as Tai requested something of his Tenant. 'Any idea of ow much power I have left, Vritra?'

**[Hmph, to order this one around like a common pet... nonetheless, with as much you have exerted in this excursion, the Synchrogear's power has fallen to about 30%. Best make this last stretch fast, I can still sense Asmodeus's power, as weakened as it is right now.]**

'Yeah, got it. I figured that this guy wasn't out of the game yet, it'd be too easy otherwise.' Tai thought as he nodded his head, having come to a similar conclusion himself, or rather he had simply remained cautious enough to have considered this in case that event Vritra had described became a reality before having launched those rubble pieces earlier.

No sooner had he pondered on this, did Tai nice the pile of rubble giving way at the top, the towering form of Asmodeus soon escaping its previous confinement with a loud exhale of victory. The Demon did NOT look very good though, proof that Tai's previous attack strategies and various tactics had taken their toll on its tangled body. Not only did its arms look horribly bent at various angles (though considering their boneless nature Tai didn't think Asmodeus would be feeling too much pain from them), but its multiple tools and utensils were nowhere in sight, probably have been destroyed by the Rubble barrage Tai had launched earlier. Furthermore, the Tentacles making up its tangled appearance seemed to be trying to bend themselves back into shape, but the process wasn't going soo well... and finally, the crown on its head looked to have more than a FEW cracks on its formerly untainted frame.

In essence, a FAR CRY from its previously dominant status before the invasion of its Palace.

_**"YOU... FUCKING SLUTTY BRAT! I AM THE KING! IF I'M THE KING, MY WORD IS LAW! BESIDES, ITS NOT LIKE I SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ANYONE, THEY JUST WANTED TO BE ON MY GOOD SIDE! WHATS SO WRONG WITH THAT?!" **_

'Maybe it wasn't as bad as I had hypothesized if he's rambling off garbage like that...' Tai thought, brow angrily twitching as he made to stride forwards, intending on forming a weapon with his Purgatory Flames to finish the beast off. However, before the teen managed to get above 4 steps, his eyes widened slightly when, in one quick moment, black Tentacles burst out from the ground and wrapped around his limbs and holding him in place. They then lifted him upwards into the air and held him there in suspension whilst the weakened Asmodeus howled with laughter. 'Tch, looks like this guy managed to send some Tentacles underground whilst buried in the Rubble. Guess it has SOME brains after all...' the male thought as the scenario replayed itself in his mind, allowing him to comprehend the situation at hand and how it came to be.

**_"GYEEEGYEGYEGYE_****_GYEGYEGYE_****_GYEGYEGYE! I'M GOING TO ENJOY 'BREAKING' YOU UNTIL YOU BEG FOR MY MERCY AS YOUR RIGHTFUL KING, YOU MAGGOT! _****_GYEGYEGYE_****_GYEGYEGYE__GYEGYEGYE...!"_** Asmodeus proclaimed as it stomped towards him, rearing its arms back as it called forth a few more Tentacles from its body, its lone eye wide with a demented, downright psychotic look to it. If Tai could see it's mouth right now, then he guessed the Demon would be grinning in an unnatural way like a maniac. Though he gave no indication of being distressed about his situation as the Tentacles loomed over him, inches away from piercing his body. This would only serve to tempt the Demon further though as judging by how its Eye shook whilst its tongue wiggled about, it seemed that Asmodeus had more than a FEW fantasies that it wanted to try out on him as revenge for damaging his Palace like this.

**"Maggot, huh...?"**

**_"?"_**

Tai mumbled that out, his expression never changing even as his words drew the Demon's attention. Fortunately, the teen didn't halt his words and instead continued. **"I'd call you that instead, but that'd be an insult to the Maggots, since its been discovered that Maggots have eyes all over their bodies including the backs of their heads. That's not something you have, apparently, as well as brains, though that's somewhat to be expected for a horny mongrel like you." **Tai mocked further, gradually driving Asmodeus further and further up the wall. One might think that, at this point, provoking something that has their very life in the palms of its hands MAY not be the best idea in the world, quite the opposite actually. However, Tai wasn't acting on normal human responses here, not one bit. **"Proof of my claims is that you haven't once looked down since we started this last little bout."**

_**"HUUUUH? WHAT NONESENSE ARE YOU SPOUTING THIS-"**_

Before Asmodeus could finish its frustrated little taunt, however, did something get spotted out of its peripheral vision, causing the Demon to glance downwards just as Tai had stated before. However, by the time it did so Asmodeus missed the slight upturning of the captured male's lips as, in that moment, several long 'Spears' made from compressed Purgatory flames burst out from four different sections of the ground, forming the corners of a square from a bird's eye view. They moved fast, way too fast for Asmodeus to react in time and as a result each Spear stabbed right through all four of his Arms, severing them from his person and letting them get burned into nothingness.

Whilst the Demon of Lust howled with immense agony, detaching what remained of the arms from its body to not get burned by the Purgatory Flames' effects, the said flames deformed from their previous condensed ones and sped over to their maker, quickly rising upwards to cover and incinerate the Tentacles holding Tai into nothingness. This resulted in him being set free as he landed on the ground in a crouch and holding his hand out, the flames shooting down into the space above his palm to form a large fireball. All the while, Tai calmly proceeded to stride forwards towards his howling prey as he spoke. **"Like I said, no brains. More must have went to your second 'brain' than to your main, did you not think that I wouldn't ALSO use the fact that you couldn't see me briefly to my advantage like you had before?" **The teen questioned sarcastically, remembering the moment of when he'd placed his hand on the ground. Despite that moment of weakness, Tai had been the cautious one and sent in four streaks of his Flames into it, spreading them out underground through his own mental manipulation. As taxing on his willpower as it had been, the male had to make sure to ready them for his attack whilst not cluing his opponent in on his offensive strategy, something he believed went of without a hitch if he did say so himself.

Stopping about 5 meters away from it, Tai simply decided to finish the Demon off, not wanting to drag this out any longer for multiple reasons that didn't need to be elaborated. **"Now then, I believe some nice cooked tentacle would be a nice meal for tea tonight." **The male mused, chuckling as he tossed the Fireball right between the Demon's feet, clicking his fingers and watching the fireball explode, completely covering his foe with its infernal to downright hellish embrace.

The following screams that came out of its mouth would be one HECK of a catharsis for the male, and would be a source of satisfaction for the many years to come.

* * *

Once Tai felt it was enough, which turned out to be 5 to 10 minutes (Vritra's flames were just THAT hot right now) the teen clicked his fingers and let the Purgatory Flames extinguish themselves. This allowed him to see the absolutely CHARRED remains of the once almighty Demon, now back in human form minus the cape yet still retaining the pink speedo... much to his internal dismay, but thinking about the alternative QUICKLY made him prefer this outcome, though the sight of the unconscious man's now battered-looking crown caught his attention.

With that, Tai stepped forwards till he stood before the downed half-naked King who once had looked like the Gym Teacher, then he kneeled before him and grabbed the Crown in his left hand, standing back up and holding it in front of him. Thanks to Vritra's flames, the Crown only LOOKED as such, albeit a heavily charred one with bits and pieces of it falling off. It held NONE of the grace, royalty and dominance that it had originally exuded, yet there was still this feeling of energy coming from the Crown, showing that whilst damaged, the Crown definitely wasn't broken. 'This must be its Core... destroying this destroys this Palace, huh...?' the male mused.

**[Upon analysing this item, this one has come to a conclusion. As well as the medium used to create this Palace, it seems to have a strong connection to the Synchrogear. Destroying this, as well as that foolish King, would likely destroy that Teacher's Synchrogear as well, although I am still uncertain as to how this will effect the host.]**

Upon hearing Vritra's words, Tai frowned in thought as he shifted his hand so that the crown could be looked at with his right eye alone, his left going towards the downed Asmodeus. He had already stated his own feelings about Kamoshida dying from this, but having Asmodeus around here didn't feel like something wise, since for all that he knew the Demon, whilst an utter blockhead only concerned for fulfilling its lustful desires, could still have a few tricks up its sleeve that could cause more damage. It would be best to destroy it and the Synchrogear housing it now then.

Mentally weighing the risks and the rewards in his mind, the teen's eyes hardened and became steeled, resolution forming in them as he recalled the utter despair that Shiho once held in her defeated eyes before her suicide.

THAT just decided it for him, though in reality Tai had decided to do this since a long time ago...

* * *

A few weeks pass...

"Well... looks like things will be settling down soon..."

Tai, clad in a black suit with a white shirt and holding an umbrella due to it being a rainy day, stood in a graveyard overlooking the grave that had been the final resting place for Shiho, has decided by her family. In front of her grave stone, the male had placed some flowers that he had learned from one of her relatives she'd liked in front, his eyes darkened with negative emotion, Furthermore, he had made it a point to wear his necklace openly this time, showing to the grave that he wouldn't be so secretive with it or the remains buried within. Essentially, pressing f to pay respects.

"Sorry to be so late in visiting you, like this regardless. But, man, do I have a story to tell you..."

Saying this, a rather amused chuckle, if a little baffled, escaped the teen's lips as he recounted the events that had taken place, events so unreal and unbelievable that he sometimes had wondered if they were dreams, only for reality to tell him otherwise. Things since the whole Kamoshida incident had been... quite hectic to say the least, so this had marked the first time he had been able to visit her. Tai'd attended the 'funeral' held for her as someone whom had been somewhat connected to her by being the last person to se her before her suicide, although to say that it was a grand one would be lying. That stuff he didn't want to elaborate on, but suffice it to say that families could be REAL cold to their children if they don't 'meet their expectations' and 'follow the society rules'. It made him sick, to be honest, but for now he had other things that had been more important to do.

The most prevalent thing out of a few, well, that would be the ultimate fate of Kamoshida. Interestingly enough, destroying his Synchrogear had some... interesting effects. Turned out that it had strong influence over his lustful desires, bringing them up and 'elevating' them to an uncontrollable level. So, with it gone, not only did the lustful desires that fuelled the man's twisted personality vanish, but they also restored his rationality as if he hadn't had them in the beginning, resulting in Kamoshida becoming deeply depressed and ashamed of his actions, to the point where he had turned himself in to the police after publicly performing a seiza with his head on the ground in front of the entire school one assembly. One could say that it provided a 'change of heart'.

Soon afterwards, the Police arrived in droves, and Kamoshida walked away from the School he'd seen as a 'Castle' like that one female character who had sexual relations with her brother in game of thrones... only with his clothes on and people not throwing anything at him. This event definitely shook the school since it was still being talked about even now, as several teachers soon got fired from their jobs due to being discovered to have been 'profiting' by Kamoshida's actions through... various means he'd rather not mention. Not only this, but things at school started becoming a little more bearable since the students had more 'interesting' things to gossip than his presence now, something both he AND Chad had appreciated. As such, court trials would be starting soon for those assholes, but the public consensus was that NONE of those teachers would be punished lightly.

Good riddance, in his opinion.

"Kamoshida's going to be dealt with, he didn't get away with his actions, so he's doomed to live a life of misery and damnation in the eyes of society. Hey, that rhymed... Anyways, with him gone, there's going to be some changes throughout the School, with students AND parents coming clean with similar abuse cases. In a way Shiho, you may not be... here anymore, but you indirectly gave those people the courage to speak up against the system, to take control of their lives for once. Nobody may think this, but YOU are the hero here..."

After he had spoken, Tai's lips curved downwards into a frown as he sat before the Grave stone with one leg raised to his chest and the other horizontally across the ground in front of him, his eyes swimming with a dark pool of emotion. Even when he had first heard it on the news, Tai hadn't actually thought something like this could have happened. For so long now, he had been under the assumption that there were just some things that would always be 'absolute', things akin to those being in power being untouchable and above the law that governs Japanese Society. There were multiple things people abused in order to commit crimes and avoid justice: money, one of the biggest things since it possessed an almost frightening 'sway' over the human mind. Its not exactly unrealistic since everybody wants to be stable financially, with some even hoarding ALL their wealth to themselves. Then there was another important thing, connections, people who have connections to someone with power, people who know others who owe them favours, through the use of those connections hey can both escape punishment as well as frame an innocent whom had done no wrong. People can go as much as they like about there being 'inherent goodness' in people, but in reality people only show their true selves once the watchful eye of the law isn't looking at them, hiding away in the shadows where nobody would notice.

A common man or woman would not be able to stop any of these people, no matter what they tried if they didn't possess those features. An organisation being sued by a single person could simply bribe the right people and the court case would be closed, with a chance tat the person be forced to pay for everything as well as a punishment despite them being a victim. In school, children are singled out and bullied by those whom have grouped together to form something akin to a Hive mentality. No matter how much charisma one might have, no matter how much someone has the potential to succeed in life, they can only get crushed in a single instance by those who have power. It had been a sad, but unfortunately true statement about the nature of society, how it truly is behind all the glorification people tend to make about it.

Tai had thought this way for a long time, ever since... ever since that one incident that made his life a living hell. 'no,' Tai thought, shaking his head. 'That's not quite right.' The male then looked up at the skies, thinking back through his life, his memories playing through his mind like an old-fashioned video, and he came to a realization:

That his life had been hellish even BEFORE the incident... and afterwards things only got worse.

He remembered that incident, he remembered it well...

* * *

**(FLASHBACK)**

**"Just Get in the Car..."**

**"Stop it!"**

**"How dare you cross me!"**

**"Stop it! Let me go!"**

**"Don't give me that shit..."**

**"O-Ow, please stop!"**

**"Tch, what a waste of time... You think you are worth causing me trouble? Huh?"**

**"I-I'll call the police!"**

**"Heh, call 'em if you want. The Police are my bitches, they're not gonna take you seriously."**

**"No... stop..."**

**SIRENS PLAYING **

**"Someone called the cops, huh? Get in the car! Incompetent fools like you just need to shut your mouths, and follow where I steer this country... What are YOU looking at? Get outta my face! This ain't a show, get lost kid! See. this is because you're so slow! Get in the Car!"**

**(FLASHBACK END)**

* * *

Yeah, things only got worse from there, even as he DID end up helping that woman... and paying the price for it. What it resulted in was Tai getting convicted of assault, and getting a criminal record. Tai couldn't recall much from that night, not the guy's face but he could guess that the guy had some sort of politician job, and a high ranking one at that. That was the only explanation Tai could come to that could explain how things had ended up the way they had, hence why he tended not to trust people of authority... though, to be fair Tai never had much trust for them in the first place. His first act of rebelling against the system and THAT had been the result... all because he had tried to help an innocent woman...

Yet now... now things felt honestly a little bit different. Now, unlike in the past, Tai did indeed have a connection to something with 'power' even if it weren't in the traditional sense. He had a connection to Vritra, and that power as a Synchrogear wielder changed SO much for him. For the first time in his life, Tai found that he had been able to topple someone whom had considered himself 'untouchable', who thought themselves above the law and now would be on his way to being punished by said law. There was no way for that person to get out of it, since he had hurt way too many people so if the legal system did try to get him out of punishment the potential fallout could cause a HUGE problem, so nobody would try to help that one 'educator'. This fact could not be denied, nor could the fact that Tai had finally did something that he had wanted to do SO many times that he had practically lost count. To him... this felt AMAZING, and he wanted to do it more. There was no sliding around that issue, Tai wanted to keep doing it, it wanted to burn away those who thought themselves above the law, punish those who couldn't be done so officially.

In essence, Tai wanted to be the monster that devoured other monsters...

'Okay, lets not get ahead of ourselves here, Tai...' The male then thought, shaking his head to wipe those thoughts away from his mental faculties whilst standing upright. 'For one, this may just be a fluke since Kamoshida had a Synchrogear, and there's no telling what could happen in the future.' He rationalized himself whilst trying to look at the bigger picture. 'Furthermore, how the heck can I find those kinds of people? And if I do and I start dealing with them, what would become of it? More people would just take their place, plus I may end up putting a target on my head that I'd likely never be able to get rid of for my entire life. Exercise moderation and use your head, just like you usually do.'

Thoughts like this carried on through his mind, but one fact presented itself as clear to him. That was that things had changed for the male, be it for good or bad only time would tell.

* * *

...

...

… Wow, like wow.

What could she say to that?

Hibiki Tachibana, in the middle of the night, got told an almost fantastical tale of how Tai had managed to gain the use of his Synchrogear, and as much as she didn't think it was actually real, he had proven such by manipulating his Purgatory Flames (having to re-don his Synchro Jacket to do so). Heck, heeven showed her headlines of Kamoshida's arrest and imprisonment, so she found it hard NOT to believe him.

Though, in all fairness Hibiki, during the description of the final battle between him and this 'Asmodeus' character (yeah she wasn't as well versed on mythology and that stuff), could see Tai as a rather tactical person, especially on the battlefield. Heck she'd seen some of it when more difficult-to-handle Noise appeared, where he would study their movements, and use various tactics in order to gain the upper hand. Not to mention that she could imagine so much of what he had told her due to how descriptive the male had been, although she didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

Seeing how much disbelief his friend had found herself in, Tai couldn't help the awkward smile on his face, thinking that maybe he should have simplified things for her. It WAS night time after all, plus he knew how Hibiki was as a person, she usually had a fairly straightforward mentality, if its in front of her then she'll go to it. Of course, there were some things that she COULDN'T do with that mentality, and there were always going to be times where she would slip up, but hey that's when he and Miku would pull her back up. "So yeah, that's my story. Became this way after the concert, and spent the next few years refining my powers among other things..." the male stated, glancing to the side with an expression that proved rather difficult to read.

"Um... all that sounds... quite hard to take in..." Hibiki began, looking one step away from turning into a steam train with how red her face was as she swerved her head around in a slight daze, steam nearly coming out her ears. Her processors of course had been overloaded and its the middle of the night too, so what else can one expect? In any case, some questions managed to maintain their presence in her mind enough for her to ask them once she got herself back together. "So then... who else knows of...?" she began, trailing off as she gestured to his all-black getup.

In response, Tai hummed in thought for a moment, before he gave her the answer. "Well, aside from Division 2 since I just recently talked to them..." he began, not mentioning how he very nearly blew a gasket around so many adults but restrained himself. "I'd say only one other knows of my identity." At this point though, Hibiki saw a swift change in his demeanour as it softened, becoming that of someone who thought fondly over another person, kind of like a good friend or a familial bond. "His name's Yasutora Sado, AKA Chad from my story before. Essentially he's to me what Miku is to you. He found out a fair bit ago, i'd say a year when I had to save him from a Noise attack." the male explained. He then shook it off though, turning his head towards her. "Sorry about not telling you about all this though, just going to put that out there. Though, to be fair, when I met you again after the concert, things weren't exactly..."

This time when he trailed off, Hibiki INSTANTLY got what he had been talking about, her own gaze becoming filled with her own emotions as bad memories returned to the surface. Not something she wanted due to everything that had happened to her so far, but it happened nonetheless. She remembered it well, 4 months after the concert was when her and Tai had once again met, and at that time she had been harassed particularly bad by her schoolmates. They had blamed her for surviving that ordeal with their loved ones didn't, with some of them nearly becoming physically violent with her until Tai showed up to stop them. He'd been a loyal friend to both her and her family ever since, helping them out whenever and wherever possible. "Yeah, I can see that..." she mumbled lowly, sadness etched into her voice.

That sadness caused Tai's eyes to harden as he placed a hand on her shoulder after walking up to her. "Hey, look at me..." he began, his voice just as hard but softening as well as his gaze when Hibiki glanced back at him. "This doesn't change too much, alright? I'm sorry for keeping this a secret, true, but I'm still going to be someone you can rely on in hard times, just like I said I would back then." he told her, firmly. "That said, i'm not going to be able to help you with everything, you need to figure out a way to get yourself stronger too. Unlike what people think in stories, one needs to be stronger and NOT rely on the power of friendship stuff in order to prevail over every problem. Of course, I'd recommend learning from someone, since that's a fast way to gain strength, and considering the Noise threat getting worse by the day..."

He didn't say more, but Tai didn't need to, since Hibiki understood it regardless. He was right after all, over the last month the encounters with the Noise were getting more and more frequent. At first they could have handled it since Tsubasa was still around, not to mention Tai's unofficial 'help' whenever he appeared, but now with her in her coma, there really wasn't any option for her other than to get stronger, so she could become just as reliable as Tsubasa herself. It'd be a long road, not to mention she'd be measuring herself up to someone with years of combat experience, but let it not be said that Hibiki Tachibana was a quitter! If there's a problem before her, she'll deal with it, just like she always did.

Seeing the look on Hibiki's face, Tai let out a sigh of relief, much of the tension he'd felt this whole time leaving his system, like finally being cured of a long illness. 'Heh, there it is...' the male thought to himself, running a hand through his hair which also had the effect of lowering his coat's hood, exposing the black domino mask in full detail. 'Hibiki's always been a stubborn one, and now it looks like she's found an answer to her problem or at least the lead to said answer. She won't be needing any help from me right now...' the male thought further as he pulled his hood up and over his face again whist turning to leave.

However, when she saw this, Hibiki felt a question jump into her mind, one which she quickly asked before her friend could leave for the night. "Say Tai... wat do you plan on doing now?"

As he heard her question, the teen paused in his movement mid stride, his eyes wider slightly before they returned to normal and he turned his head back to her, this time Hibiki showing no traces of fear or anxiety towards the draconian eyes he possessed via his Synchrogear. "Well, home. Need some rest if we're going to be allies in our fight against the Noise after all. Since the idol's in a Coma still, we're all those adults have to rely on." he explained, and whilst saying so hid the emotions which surged forth like shockwaves when discussing the subject of Tsubasa and Division 2.

Hibiki, hearing this, aimed a brief but sweet and big smile at him, finding that answer to be satisfactory for the moment, as if his words pulled a weight off her shoulders. She didn't say anything else though and just let Tai leave for his home, before proceeding to head off herself. Things weren't as bad as they once were now, with her now path set out before her and the re-stated support from her friend, but there were still problems to be solved. Problems such as her strained friendship with Miku and the whole Noise situation, but at least now she had a direction to go forth in... one she didn't have to travel alone.

That thought filled her with WAY more comfort than it should have, not like she complained any.

* * *

**Chapter End**

**PHEW! Finally, this chap is DONE! Not going to lie, this one turned out a lot smaller than I had anticipated, just under 20K words. If any of you have read my OEG story my biggest chap word count is actually near 30K. This also officially concludes the flashback arc, so by the time the next chap comes around we'll be focusing on the Symphogear main story, of which I'm thinking about making it like a book series with this being book one, then some '.5' books which would be side stories that take place between seasons. I'd say side stories, but depending on how they turn out they may as well become main story entries. Kind of like the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter books. **

**Anyways, for those who haven't guessed it already, this arc was a HEAVILY Persona 5 influenced one, not just with its story but also with Tai's Character. I hope you all can see the similarities between him and the P5 Akira Kurusu (real name in my eyes), whilst I also made some changes so its not a complete rip-off. Like the fact that instead of it being Kamoshida's Shadow I had him fight the ACTUAL Prince of Hell that governed lust itself, Asmodeus. Not a very strong one, but that may not be true for the others. **

**Furthermore, I hope you all can see the tactics that Tai employed throughout this Arc, they were meant to showcase that he IS an intelligent person, that he does think quite logically about things as well as does research about subjects in his own time. This correlates with his backstory a bit, which will be revealed completely in time. As for backstories, I'm thinking of creating some new characters for the future and adding them to Tai and Sun, potentially making a separate team from the Symphogear users. **

**Now, I'll be heading back to OEG for a bit, so this one may not be updated for a while so be warned. That one's been waiting long enough, not to mention there's other fics on my profile that I want to get done like AOTD and my Prototype/Neptunia crossover. I DO wish to complete them, instead of being like so many authors and leaving them unfinished without notification after all. **

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter and arc by extension, and see you later.**

**Peace Out!**


	15. Chapter 15 - Trouble Brewing

**Chapter 15 - Trouble Brewing**

The early bright rays of the morning sun penetrated through the curtains of the dorms within the Academy grounds, allowing its young maiden residents to start awakening for their days and specific routines. In one such dorm room, the rays stirred a certain black-haired girl from her slumber, discontent moans escaping her lips as her consciousness slowly rose into the waking world, resulting in her drowsy eyes starting to open. Rubbing her eyes whilst sitting upwards, the young but still sleepy Miku Kohinata finally managed to get herself in a decently awakened form before looking towards where she would have seen her friend sleeping soundly whilst drooling like an adorable oaf… only, she wasn't there, and instead the covers looked like they had been removed in a hurry.

She didn't have to wonder where her friend Hibiki Tachibana had went though, for she had left a note behind saying that she would be 'training'. For what, she didn't know, but on the few times she watched her from behind a tree in the middle of the forest, Miku worried about what Hibiki might be doing in secret.

What she guessed was that it involved fighting, and that worried her all the more.

It wasn't like she could stop Hibiki either, since her friend usually vanished in the early mornings, and it had been like this for a while too. There were so few opportunities these days in which she would be able to spend time with her, and it really made the young girl feel… well, more than a little lonely. It reminded her a lot of what her life had been like back… back before she had met her future best friend forever.

Of course, it wasn't like Hibiki was trying to completely neglect her though, as she had made sure to make time to spend with Miku and the rest of their friends, though she had recently observed a radical change in her childhood friend. A change she did NOT expect at all, cause it came in the form of her being much more… focused, then usual. When she did even the simplest of things, she did so with this burning passion in her eyes, almost like she were trying to become a little inferno of energy or an edgy try hard, like whenever they went to Karaoke or did stuff together, she acted way more… hyper, than usual.

It wasn't something that Miku tried too hard to figure out, as it had become plainly obvious to her what had been happening despite her not knowing the full details: that something had begun to drive her friend forward, like a fiery hand pushing her towards some sort of goal that she wanted to reach as soon as possible and would work harder than she ever had before to get there, a goal which Miko had once tried asking about once but Hibiki had evaded the question, hurting her deeply inside. It all started from that talk she had with Hibiki back then when she had been depressed about something, and she had given those words of encouragement. Miku liked to think that had been the cause for Hibiki's behavioural shift, but something in her gut told her there was more to it than that, that something else had happened which only amplified her feelings further.

Furthermore, as she looked up from the note, Miku wondered about many things which had begun to change since their enrolment in Lydian Academy.

'Hibiki…'

* * *

POW!

POW!

POW!

POW!

POW!

POW!

POW!

POW!

POW!

"You're doing it wrong."

Meanwhile, outside Genjuro's house which looked like a Traditional Japanese style house, the man stood wearing a greyish white track suit under a white gym shirt with his arms crossed in front of his chest, his gaze stern and unrelenting but not malicious as he observed the young Hibiki Tachibana. Said girl stood in front of a punching bag which was hung in front of her by a tree branch that was connected to an overlooking tree, almost discomfortingly so, whilst she wore her School's Gym outfit, along with a headpiece and boxing glove set for practicing boxers, as she repeatedly punched away at the Punching Bag with gusto, yelling each time.

If one hadn't guessed it, the two of them were conducting their own set of training, something which Hibiki had made it a point to start the day after she had learned the truth about SHADOW's identity. His story, where he slowly came into his own as a Synchrogear Wielder (she still didn't quite grasp the physics behind it but from what she COULD it seemed like he had a monster partner who lent him power for fighting, she guessed, nothing like her Symphogear)

Of course, only she knew about it as before she could tell anyone he had texted her and asked her not to let Division 2 know about him just yet, something which she didn't like the thought of especially since they had helped her out with her goal of becoming someone similar to Kanade, but considering who it had been that had asked her, she had chosen to follow that request anyways. She knew for a FACT that Tai, SHADOW's human alter ego, held no love for adults in a general sense, she had known for a while just from seeing how he held himself in front of her and Miku when compared to older people, though she wasn't sure why. Nevertheless, she had followed his advice and found Genjuro to ask him to help her get stronger by teaching her martial arts, since in her mind the guy looked like he could be of help to her given how tough he looked.

Turned out that had been the best call she could have made, since the guy had almost immediately put her trough some intensive training, involving long runs, imitating the moves of heroes in action movies (no complaint from her there, she secretly liked them as Genjuro had found out to his delight) and all around immense improvement of her physical condition. It had been done without the help pf her Gungnir though, so that can help, but in the end Hibiki's ability to fight the Noise that kept on appearing had increased dramatically as a result, to the point where even though they now fought together as a pair against them, SHADOW didn't need to help her out as much so he could instead focus on obliterating each Noise he encountered with extreme prejudice.

Much to Division 2's delight…

Although, even Hibiki wasn't blind to the tension between her superiors and their 'ally', most of it coming from the fact that neither party seemed all too trusting of one another. Well, that wasn't necessarily true as Genjuro, whenever SHADOW hadn't been around, often looked a little sad and regretful about him although he never really said why when Hibiki had asked him at one point. He didn't show it in front of the black clad male, and for some reason Hibiki felt like that would be for the best, since according to her history with him, SHADOW along with his alternate ego Tai did NOT like to be pitied. Quite the opposite really, and on Tai's side… well, she didn't really need to say much on that since she'd pretty much said it all already with his distrust in adults in general, plus was it just her, or did Tai dislike Division 2 more than other adults?

Ugh, she couldn't be bothered to think about it anymore, and instead focused on trying to hone her punching technique. However, upon hearing Genjuro say those words, Hibiki paused her actions in order to look up at him, prompting the man to elaborate on his point. Although, to her, it felt like he were trying to make it sound cooler than it really was, and his love of action movies seeped into his training quite a bit, his explanations more than anything else. "Your fists should be like hammers, smashing the bolts in front of you to make them shatter in half." He declared simply, proving Hibiki's previous point.

"I didn't understand a word of that." Hibiki declared like there was nothing wrong with saying what she did with a straight face, let alone the high spirits her eyes burned with as she got into a boxing stance once again. Her eyes, tempered by those words as if they carried a specific type of magic to them, narrowed at their target: the Punching bag as she got into the traditional boxing stance, her gaze looking like it'd almost burst into two searing blazes at the same time. "But I'll give it a shot!" she declared before rearing her right fist backwards and throwing it forwards in a right hook. She intended to slam her fist into the centre of the punching bag's mass, something which her mentor had taught her to do since it's the easiest target to hit…

But what she DIDN'T expect was to punch it so hard that, combined with the force she had placed behind her punch, the training equipment would literally go FLYING away from her, snapping the poor twig off the Tree it sprouted from whilst the punching bag slammed into the nearly pond, creating a small wave. One which also succeeded in launching a fish out of it and into the air in a frightened, startled manner.

Seeing the absolutely stupefied look on his student's face morph into one of pure excitement and joy, a small smirk formed on Genjuro's features as he held out two gloves of his own, ready for the next part of the training that he would personally be taking a LARGE amount of enjoyment in. "Now then, lets get these broken in, shall we?" he mused, remembering how he had to get new ones several times in the last week, due to the effort Hibiki put into her training.

To him, seeing Hibiki acting as energetic at this brought a smile onto the middle aged man's face.

So far, if things were to progress like this the man could tell things were beginning to look up for them now.

Now, if only SHADOW were as co-operative as her, and their third member would wake up, THEN they'd have a trio of defenders against this threat to humanity's survival…

* * *

"It has been the previously agreed amount of days. HE wishes to know how the activation test of the Holy Relic we handed over to you proceeded."

"As reported, tests have shown that Completed Relics need to have a considerable level of Phonic Gain. An amount that, whilst exceedingly larger than the fragments that make up the Symphogears, is much less than those 'abnormal' ones. It won't be easy to harness such power, not even from that politician..."

"Black Art… We need to show the world the technology of a lost civilisation and make it our own by any means. Power is only worth anything at all if the one using it is blessed by god himself, for only he deserves such absolute authority."

"Even if that is true, it's still apparent that it's all give and take, even for those in power, for that is how society functions effectively. Regardless, I appreciate the aid your country has lent us. I leave today's duck hunt and later developments to you."

"Seems that you appreciate my services… good. I expect you to hold up your end of the bargain, then. You know as well as I do that HE doesn't want to be kept waiting. You know what he will do to those who prove themselves inept…"

"Of course, I would do nothing less. Obedience is the key to longevity."

Sitting on an ornamental looking chair with one leg crossed over the other within a large room fit for a mansion, one lone woman talked with some male person through an old western style phone. The woman, the one whom only answered to the name 'Fine' hummed as she finished up her talk with one of her 'many' associates throughout the years, placing the Phone back on its receiver after the call disconnected before putting it back onto the Table. The moment her lands left that Phone, she stood up from her seat and, whilst clad only in her gloves, stockings and heels, started walking around the side whilst smiling a smile that didn't reach her golden serpent eyes. "Such vulgarity… its starting to wear down on me how remarkably unremarkable he is, just like his country…" she muttered under her breath. "There's no way, not even under torture, that I'd tell him that the sacred Staff of Solomon has already been activated…"

This was the thing with most of the grubby old men in power, the woman mused as she dragged one of her hands along the table's edge, her eyes glinting with dark amusement. To Fine, Politicians always seemed to think that just because they held some measly level of authority in their country, that would mean that they deserved everything this world had to offer. That they could just trample over anyone and anything without getting any backlash from those whom they'd swore to serve. She'd seen it far too many times at this point, however there were still a select few people who could still drag those original emotions she'd felt so long ago out of her. Sometimes, Fine found herself surprised at how easily those people found ways to surpass her expectations in the worst ways possible. It repulsed her, sickened her even, however despite this it made manipulating them through their greed something to be quite easy to accomplish. All one needed to do with them, was to just simply dangle some 'bait' in front of them and, like frail little lambs, they would try to follow it no matter where it lead them… even into he jaws of the grim reaper itself. As foolish as it was amusing and pathetic at the same time…

However, genuine delight, with a slight tad of perverse sadism and an edge of motherly kindness, seeped into her gaze as she stepped towards something else inside the room. Feelings which washed away her previous ones as she approached a rather large, easily 8 feet tall, device modified after one known as the 'iron maiden' torture device from the European medieval period. Strapped to that device, wearing an outfit that wouldn't be too out of place in an SxM store for some domination play, was a familiar white-haired Chris, the girl being strapped there in a manner similar to a certain son of good in the bible. "Don't you agree, Chris?" Fine whispered in a soft, alluring voice as she stood before the young girl, reaching forth and cupping her chin in her hand which stirred her previously unconscious mind back into the waking world as her formerly closed eyes began to open. "Are you in pain? Poor Chris…"

This machine she had strapped Chris to not long after the failed retrieval mission, it had been designed with the Nehushtan Armour in mind since its purpose was to keep it from completely fusing with Chris's body. The Complete Relic did this every time it regenerated, hence why the girl would be in pain the more that it healed from the damage it received from outside aggression. Hence, when she had sent Chris on that mission to retrieve Hibiki and had her use it, Fine had speculated that ideally Chris would have had to make it a simple hit and run type of mission, but much to her disappointment not only did she hesitate in this but she returned empty handed after being 'helped' by that amusing 'friend' of hers.

Ah, that friend of hers, that boy…

Such an INTERESTING specimen, he was, what with that unusual Gear he possessed, the woman mused whilst lowering a lever and witnessing Chris scream and writhe within the contraption, due to the sparks of electricity jolting through her system whilst they did their work. She made it so that the 'session' they were going through lasted for a short moment as she cooed forth at the sight of the anguished expression Chris sported, until she stopped the machine afterwards. Upon the contraption ceasing, Chris's form hung limp, her head hanging low as she looked up towards her 'mother-figure' with eyes that made Fine want to swoon… in a sick, twisted pleasure kind of way.

"This is necessary… right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I have to obey you if I want to see my wish granted, don't I?"

Ah, THAT little matter. The subject which had served as the catalyst for this pet and master relationship they got going on here, Fine mused. This had been the way she had embedded herself into Chris's psyche, making her emotionally dependent on HER instead of that childhood friend of hers. He KNEW of this happening too, but it wasn't like he could do anything since it was already too late for him to do so, his friend had become completely loyal to her and her cause, making it so that if he did try something she would become his enemy for her in a heartbeat, just so that she could have Fine's own approval. Chris pretty much saw her as the Goddess in her life, something which the woman herself had a hand in 'painting' onto her over the course of their time together.

Still, back to the boy's weapon, the one thing which the boy had going for him the most if anyone were to ask her. To be frank: Fine hesitated to call it a Symphogear anymore, simply due to the origins behind its development. The Gear known as the Ruji Jingu Bang, the Staff of the Monkey King: Sun Wukong, and the Kinto-Un along with the Crimson Gourd. These three relics formed the 'Weapons of the Three Gods' in Chinese myth, though in reality these were some… unusual Relics. Whilst not necessarily complete Relics like the Nehushtan Armour, they still retained about 80% of their original power… at least, that had been her analysis when she had found them. Fine had gone to great lengths to keep those Relics a secret from her associates, as well as anyone who tried snooping around where they weren't wanted.

Though that had changed when she had found Sun not too long after finding Chris. It had been a simple whim, her taking him in after she had found the young hot-headed girl, as she didn't expect to get too much potential out of him at the time. She DID note however that he had seemed remarkably talented for someone of his age, for no matter what subject she had him study, he managed to soak the knowledge up like a Sponge, something which honestly unnerved her a little. Fine had to pat herself on the back that she didn't teach him much about the Secrets behind the Symphogears, aside from the stuff that was already discovered by those who hold them, as it would have proven quite troublesome for her plans if someone else became capable of creating Symphogears from these ancient Relics. As such, she had made to send him off somewhere then forget about him, especially since the reunion between him and his supposed 'friend' had become quite awkward, their relationship unstable which had been the key for her to 'wedge' herself into the young Chris's mind, to make her solely dependent on her (the whole thing about her being jealous and spiteful of him was only a bonus)…

But THEN, each of the three Relics belonging to the mentioned Monkey King reacted to him AT THE SAME TIME, quickly changing her mind about him and deciding to keep hm around as her personal 'apostle' one could say. This whole thing had given her an idea, too, one which Fine hadn't actually thought about until this development, and it IMMEDIATELY tickled her fancy as a Scientist. Whilst she had no idea on why the three Relics had reacted at the very same time, experiments and research conducted to find out didn't yield to any results on this reason, so she simply fused the three of them together into one Symphogear and had Sun activate it with his Song.

The result… well, it had been WAY more profitable than what she'd expected:

Gaining a powerful Symphogear with the abilities of 3 combined into one.

An Agent who proved stunningly effective when sent out on missions, much to the cute Chris's jealousy since she paid him lots of attention when she did so.

Things had been proceeding smoothly, just like she had planned.

…until that young Hibiki Tachibana and the mysterious SHADOW appeared and posed some… interesting variables she wanted to investigate. The first subject, the young Hibiki, managed to not only survive a Noise attack, but the former user of Gungnir, Kanade Amou, had accidentally lodged a shard of her Symphogear into her before it's destruction during the Concert, which had somehow become enough for her to utelize Gungnir herself. Although it was just a fragment, making it likely that she would never have Gungnir's Armed Gear, the Spear that pierced the Heavens, her situation just seemed WAY too tempting for the scientist within her to ignore. From what she had experimented on with regards to her thanks to her associates, Fine had determined that there were some… interesting possibilities occurring within her body that previous Symphogear uses hadn't recorded before, likely due to her own unique circumstances. That had been why she had wanted her to be taken from those coots within Division 2 so she could conduct further research with her own equipment, however things have went awry there thanks to the emergence of SHADOW. One could say that Hibiki breathed new life into the Symphogear program, something Fine had started growing bored with aside from the complete Relics.

Then, there was SHADOW, the biggest enigma besides Hibiki Tachibana.

The mention of that mysterious figure provided a bit of a damper on Fine's mood, something which she ALLOWED Chris to notice and make her own assumptions since it would further inflate her desire to prove herself in the woman's eyes. There was SO MUCH that was unknown about that person who appeared 2 years ago and had become a growing thorn in her side ever since. Not only did he eradicate a majority of Noise when they were summoned without much trouble, but the way his powers seemed to work had been completely unknown to her. The only clue she had was that they apparently came from 'Vritra' the Evil Dragon whose supposed to be Indra's rival in Hindu myth, however that creature was said to have been slain by Indra long ago, so how could it still be around? These questions taught her a new lesson, something she had once forgotten about until his and Hibiki's emergence: one never stops learning in their lifetimes, there's always something new.

'But right now, it would be imperative to learn as much as possible about him so that I may devise a method of dealing with him. There are some options, and this is basically one person I am dealing with here so he shouldn't be too much trouble. He's went and joined Division 2 as an 'ally' for now, which gives me the perfect opportunity to conduct research… although he seems a bit too cautious, which means he's likely got suspicions somehow. Not too much of a problem as long as he remains clueless to the overall scheme…' Fine thought to herself after deciding to spend some time eating dinner with her pseudo 'daughter' much to her delight.

* * *

An exhausted sound escaped her lips as Hibiki Tachibana, still clad in her training outfit, flopped down onto one of the sofas in the Command room that Division 2 possessed, the soft cushions it had immediately drawing out a moan of delight from her whilst they soothed her aching muscles. "This morning was too hard…" the young girl half mused, and half whined at the same time, remembering just how Genjuro ran her rigged till she looked like she would pass out at any moment. Let it be said that the guy didn't relent until he was absolutely SURE that things had gone on far enough, and whilst that had been what she had wanted Hibiki had NOT been mentally prepared for the training he would dish out on her every day, and it just seemed to get increasingly intense with each session.

Meanwhile, as if in direct opposition to her current state, a completely pleased and satisfied Genjuro sat on the opposite sofa, putting one foot over his thigh as he crossed his arms under his chest, puffing said body part out in sheer pride. Well, how could he not be? His young disciple was coming along nicely in her training, plus it was a nice bonus for him to learn she liked action movies just as much as he did. If only there were more women who enjoyed the wonders of high octane, over the top action movies, then the world would be a much happier place in his opinion, "There's a champion in the making…" he stated with a closed eye smile, not minding the looks that his subordinates gave him since they knew the situation at hand.

Fortunately for Hibiki, Aoi took pity on the girl and offered her a nice cold beverage for her body to cool down from, prompting an exasperated thank you from her as Hibiki pretty much wolfed it down to revitalize herself for the rest of the day. When she finished the drink, which took a couple seconds or so, she lowered the drink from her lips and turned to her instructor. "I decided for myself to get in some real training, but for some reason you had to accompany me anyways, sorry about that." She mentioned, lowering her head slightly in the form of a bow, though Genjuro waved it off with a look that stated he simply didn't mind. However, the girl wasn't done though as several questions had begun bubbling within her mind since the meeting she had with SHADOW, questions she felt that Genjuro was best to answer them. "But, um, I'm curious. Aren't there any other ways to fight the Noise? Why do you have to rely on a high school girl to help? I mean, since there's SHADOW around…" Part of her wished she could say his real name, but Hibiki wisely kept herself quiet regarding that detail. "Plus, maybe other countries know something we don't…"

A sigh escaped Genjuro's lips, a long and worn out sigh that completely contrasted against his previous delighted demeanour. It almost felt like her question had opened a box of worms that the man had been trying to deal with for years, and unbeknownst to her (though not for much longer), Hibiki wasn't completely wrong in that assumption. Soon, Genjuro began to explain whilst outing his arms on top of the Sofa's back cushions, looking up to the ceiling. "Officially, there's no solution." He began to say, straightening himself up to look more presentable before continuing. "Even in Japan, anything related to the Symphogears is classified."

This caused Hibiki to sweat drop, since that answer pretty much brought out another worry of hers. "But I go out in broad daylight…" she muttered, though Aoi heard her since she was the closest one to her.

Hence, she proceeded to explain as well. "Keeping word from spreading is also part of our job."

Sakuya, whom currently sat at one of the monitors and was possibly doing this very thing, then chimed in with his tone being one of grave, grim determination, though some weariness was also present. "But sometimes we need to go too far to do our job, so by now most cabinet members and ministers pretty much hate our guts." He explained, before pausing to turn from whatever he had been doing at his Desk and facing her directly whilst continuing, "They don't even call us the second branch of the disaster relief squad anymore, just the 'Sore Thumb' instead."

**"****Hypocrites, if you ask me."**

"?!"

Just then, the ominous, sinister voice of a certain 'ally' of theirs spoke throughout the room, followed by a ring of Black Flames that rose from the floor not too far from them. The ring died down moments later, allowing SHADOW in all his dark, menacing glory to step on out, his hands inside his coat pockets whilst said coat's tails fluttered lightly behind him. Upon seeing Hibiki though, his crimson slitted gaze softened slightly, before he looked back to Sakuya and his gaze returned to its cold one. **"They sound like people who can't do their jobs properly if that's all it takes to set them off." **

"Well… you're not exactly wrong with the hypocrites part…"

Whilst Sakuya timidly offered that statement, Aoi then looked to Hibiki since Division 2 had slowly gotten used to the way SHADOW managed to get inside without raising too much fuss as well as sneaked past their defences. Perhaps he could have done this since the very beginning, some of them had thought which only made them ever the gladder that he had decided to join their side and not become an enemy. "The Government's upper echelons swore us to secrecy you know." She said, her tone deepening into a dark one, one which reflected their grim reality. "But we can't keep up."

"I'm pretty sure they want to use the Symphogear as a diplomatic ace up their sleeves." Sakuya then noted, drawing everyone's gazes to him again. He then looked to the side, frowning as his eyes became less focused, a sign he had gone into deep thought. "Considering how that world is, its even more likely especially with an election for Prime Minister coming up in a fair bit…"

Aoi nodded his head as SHADOW got offered a seat next to Hibiki, the masked male taking it and sitting down with his legs positioned in a similar way to Genjuro from earlier, and when he got asked by Hibiki why he had appeared here he had stated that he had been requested to by Genjuro himself. "The EU and US are probably waiting for a good opportunity to make their move. As you all are aware, the Symphogear technology is based off history and technology that was born in a field that didn't even exist before. No other country could ever hope to reproduce it, which HAS to be making them grind their teeth." Aoi explained whilst having adopted a thinking pose.

**"****Which makes it all the more mysterious where Synchrogears came from."** SHADOW then spoke, leaning forwards and putting his hands under his chin whilst his elbows dug into his thighs. **"As I stated to Genjuro during our meeting earlier, Synchrogears are just as rare if not more so than Symphogears, but much less is known about them in comparison. If the Symphogears come from such backgrounds, its fair to assume that my Synchrogear is the same."** What he said wasn't wrong, none of the adults could contest such logic. Though he did bring up an interesting point regardless.

Since they were declared to be allies, SHADOW had found it wise to inform Genjuro of the nature behind his powers: the weapon known as the Synchrogear. He'd given a basic overview of what it was, how it housed the essence of monsters and used them as a template to form supernatural abilities for its user, along with a simplified explanation regarding the conditions for 'awakening' such a weapon. All this had been done with Vritra's approval, though the Evil Dragon had made it clear to keep it out of the explanation as much as possible. Not all of his secrets had to be exposed right away, but what he had told them had been enough for Division 2 to not pry too much in the early stages of their partnership, though he could easily tell that they held in their anxiety and desire to learn more. Maybe once he trusted them more after some more 'tests' then he'd do something about that.

"So basically, everyone is having issues…"

All eyes then turned to Hibiki after a moment of tense silence, the said girl having said those words in a tired, depressed tone of voice whilst lying on her side along the sofa. She probably would have sprawled herself out along it if she were the sole occupant, but since SHADOW was sitting next to her, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. Still, this didn't detach from her dejection about the situation at hand, something which EVERYONE could easily understand. Even if she weren't the smartest cookie in the bowl, Hibiki's simple summarizing of the events pretty much became an effective attack on the whole thing.

Just then, Hibiki sat straight up once again, her eyes flashing with a glint to them as she looked towards her teacher. "That reminds me Chief, where's Ms. Ryouko?" she questioned, prompting SHADOW to start looking around with an increasingly cautious gaze. After all, by the time he had been confirmed as an 'ally' to Division 2, Ryouko had pretty much soured his impression of her by trying to get him onto her table so she could 'satisfy her scientific urges', much to his internal horror and displeasure. If it hadn't been for the situation, he likely would have just incinerated her on the spot or something with Vritra's flames.

"She's on official business."

"Official?"

Genjuro, smiling at the questioning tone (along with the relieved one which SHADOW had sported although it had been difficult to tell), proceeded to explain on what he had meant by that. "A Government big shot summoned her. She's there to fulfil her duty to report to the minister in charge with regards to HQ Security and other defence mechanisms. Its part of her job."

"… This is all so complicated."

**"****Not to worry, Tachibana." **SHADOW spoke soothingly as he patted the young girl's head, which looked like it would be boiling over with how Hard she seemed to try and process all the information that had been revealed to her. It honestly made him want to chuckle, had he not seen it as disrespectful and had known her for a while now. **"Politics confuse everyone who hears about them, since they're one big mess if you ask me." **

Genjuro nodded his head in agreement with what SHADOW had said, closing his eyes as he recalled the COPIUS amount of experiences he had with such people over the course of his career as a Chief. "SHADOW's not wrong, Hibiki. Not to mention, the people who don't want to take responsibility are usually the ones who make things so complicated." He explained, making the black dressed male scowl at how true those words were… especially given his experiences with adults so far. Then, the man let out a soft smile as brighter memories took the place of the darker ones as he proceeded to uncover the watch on his left wrist to check the time. "At least Minister of Defence Hiroki is a better man than that." He stated, his lips then curving into a frown once again. "Ryouko is late."

**[That does not sound good… what's your verdict, you think this mortal is simply goofing off somewhere like she usually does?]**

SHADOW mentally had to suppress an amused chuckle at the thought, since he could totally imagine the whimsical Ryouko getting into some sort of mischief. Well, not only that but he didn't dare say anything regarding what his partner had said out loud since, whilst quite… eccentric, that woman did have a keen intellect and understanding of things which she repressed behind a mask of a fool. 'Makes me wonder, though…. If she's THAT good at masking her intelligence, what could her background have been like…?' the male mused mentally.

* * *

...

...

...

...

"... I'm... alive... No. I just failed to die."

… Kanade… What did she live for?

_"... You're taking all this way too seriously, Tsubasa."_

"?!"

_"A read before the wind lives on where oaks fall."_

... Those words, words she swore were spoken by her dear old friend, resonated within her mind, body and soul, wherever those three were located since all she saw around her could only be described as the depths of the ocean.

Remembering the past, she couldn't help but reminisce, or perhaps it had been due to the frustration of once again being proven a failure at the life she had forced herself to live.

Ever since Kanade's… incident, Tsubasa worked harder than ever now that she could not longer rely on her for help. She would regularly stare into the eyes of death as she annihilated the Noise that would come after humanity, and as the saying went he who fights monsters must make sure to never become one themselves, for staring too long into the abyss will make it stare back at you. The more she fought, the more she became like the Noise in the way she fight: becoming cold, apathetic and merciless to her enemies. She didn't even realize it, either, she just... slipped, becoming as silent as the blade which she had honed herself to become.

_"... I realized that my life held no meaning or value, but still I kept on fighting. There is something out there for us beyond all this bloodshed, I truly believed that as I wielded my Spear on the bloodstained battlefield... now I'm completely certain of it." _

"What is it?"

_"... You'll find out for yourself, eventually."_

"Don't tease me again, Kanade… then again, you're not... able to tease me, not since after what had happened..."

_"... Maybe not. But isn't that a good thing?"_

"Its not, not one bit! I want you by my side! I want us to keep fighting alongside one another, I don't want to lose my only true friend!"

_"...Heh, as nice as that sounds, its actually all up to you whether I'm close to you or not."_

It was... up to her?

Then she...

* * *

A feeling akin to being doused with a bucket of water washed over her, and by that point the previous feelings of being weightless started to vanished, replacing itself with the feeling of actually having a body. A body she gradually came to remember being absolutely battered and broken the last time she possessed. A state which had came as a result from doing the same thing that her best friend had once did, singing the Superb Song of the Symphogears, she remembered this as her eyes slowly started to stir, twitching and gradually raising their eyelids to allow her the chance to view her surroundings.

"Guh… Mmmgh…"

Slight sounds escaped her voice, at volumes so much below a whisper that she as an idol couldn't believe she could have reached, but they were enough to alert some people in lab coats standing around her to the fact that she was coming back to consciousness.

"Doctor, the patient is conscious!"

"Check all vital signs! Quick!"

As the barrage of sounds that followed took their course, Tsubasa became aware of the fact that her body felt much better than it did before she had lost consciousness, as well as how it was clad in a hospital gown whilst encased within an egg-shaped machine, several tubes connecting to various bodyparts. These things, along with the general vicinity being familiar to her since she remembered being in this a few times in the past, notably during the early days after that Concert, informed the groggy Tsubasa of the sole important fact underneath what she had recently experienced: that she had awoken within one of Divison 2's Medical facilities. Genjuro must have placed her in her after the recent operation, with an unknown amount of time passing between then and that period of unconsciousness for her.

But... back to the most important thing in her mind...

The dream-like experience she had just went to... it had been so strange, now that she felt more mentally focused. It felt as if time had slowed down just for her, halting everything else just so something specific could have taken place. 'Well...' the woman thought as she lay in the device, looking up to the ceiling. 'I only skipped school for work or business related events before, so this feeling makes some sense at least, compared to wat I just went through... there goes that perfect attendance award, though...' a bit of her old sense of humour returned briefly at the end there, which would have made her smile if her weary body would have allowed it. However, she couldn't help but think back to that recent moment she had when se had been unconscious. Was that some sort of life-or-death experience she had gone through? If so.. if she did really meet with Kanade's spirit there...

No, not likely, she probably just hallucinated, but the words she heard her say...

'Don't worry Kanade, I'm not as inflexible as you... or that guy, think I am. I won't trip. So here I am, with my disgrace to bear for all to laugh at...'

* * *

Meanwhile…

Outside, the sun began to set which slowly lead to the world of night retaking the stage in the eternal struggle between light and dark. Because of the skies being in the middle of this transition, it looked like the skies had turned a bright orange, though that would be the least of anyone's concerns aside from the sunset being quite beautiful. Down below said skies, along a road that lead down some reconstruction area, one could see multiple black cars travelling in single file towards their destination, where that destination would be would only be known by the top ranking officials within it, and there were only two such individuals inside the middle car for safety and reassurance.

"A simple phone call from them can mess up my whole schedule…They are hopelessly out of control."

A low, amused and slightly exasperated chuckle escaped the lips of an elderly looking man in a brown business suit, who sat next to a younger looking man who had a slightly leaner build. That young man also wore a suit, this one a deep blue, as he held within his hands a futuristic looking Suitcase, something which contained an irreplaceable item that they had to deliver at ANY cost, no matter how great a price they had to pay. Each of them knew this, though these two knew it the best since the rest of the men in black suits, with matching shades concealing their eyes and makeshift earpieces only listened to their orders, nothing more, nothing less. One could also call them the grunts of the group, though the two men, obviously politicians, didn't see them as such.

Looking over to the elder of the two of them, the younger man aimed a stern gaze in his direction, obviously not finding as much amusement as his companion did in their situation in the slightest. "They might be a relic of the pre-war era but hasn't this gone too far?" he questioned, and whilst his words may sound harsh the man wasn't necessarily wrong with them. After all, from his perspective all he had seen of 'those' people were how they carelessly stepped on the tails of many important figures, without any regard or care for how this will reflect on them in the world of politics. As a Politician, he himself had first-hand experience in just how much that world was ran like a den housing packs of wolves, wolves which at the first sign of weakness, would rip into it and leave nothing remaining.

However, it seemed as though the older man didn't see it that way, as he instead shook his head with a small smile on his lips, a pitying yet respecting one at that. "Perhaps, but they are our only weapon against the worst of disasters." He explained, a point which the younger of the two couldn't necessarily refute very well, if at all. Since, well, outside of 'those' people any attempts at finding alternate ways to combat the threat that the Noise had raised against Humanity had become impossible. His features then morphed into ones of seriousness as he made the following declaration. "Its my duty to give them the freedom to act that they need."

Seeing how his senior was behaving showed him how he wouldn't budge on that statement, something which the younger of the two had seen way too many times before back in the political world. Shaking his head, a slight smile formed on his lips as he glanced down towards the suitcase they possessed. "A sore thumb, indeed, they are…" he whispered, although his senior heard him.

But before he could respond to such a statement…

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The trio of cars entered a small tunnel built within a bridge-like structure, but before they could leave through the other side, a lorry drove across it at the last second, causing the driver of the front car to let out a startled curse as he tried to swerve his Car into a horizontal position… however, that failed, and as a result he crashed into the Lorry's side. Not only did that destroy his car and kill him upon impact, but it triggered a domino effect of the other two Cars doing the same thing, a large JOLT causing both Politicians inside the middle Car to lurch forwards.

"?!"

"Wha?!"

Startled sounds escaped them, but things didn't end there. The rear Doors of the Lorry burst open, the cause being a large muscular man in a military uniform who'd kicked the door open from the inside. Him, along with a squad of his comrades, quickly burst out of the Lorry like a waterfall, quickly gunning down the men in black suits who had tried to come out their vehicles to shoot back at their attackers, resulting in a massive slaughter that lasted only a couple seconds.

Though, to the injured elderly Politician who'd gotten hit by a stray bullet in his left shoulder, the gunfire felt much longer than that. Worse, by the time he heard it die down and looked to the side to warn his companion, his eyes widened to see his said companion already filled to the brim with bleeding bullet holes, a stupefied expression on his face which pretty much said everything about his final moments on this earth. Probably didn't even realize the situation in time either, something which caused the older Politician to grit his teeth in anger, already having figured out what these attackers had likely done this for.

Just as he reached out for the Suitcase…

SHATTER!

One of the attackers jammed his gun, an assault rifle based off the Model, through the car's window and stabbed at the Politician's hand, forcing him to pull back lest he lose it. Eyes concealed by shades, the attacker simply spoke in broken Japanese, revealing his foreigner status. "You must be the Minister of Defence, Mr Hiroki."

"Y-You bastards…!"

BANG!

* * *

"Sorry I took so long!"

A loud shout of joy followed Ryouko's entrance as she came walking through the doors to Division 2's Command room. She had raised her arm to the ceiling in greeting as well to go with her chirpy introduction, which allowed Genjuro and the others to notice her presence. In her other hand, she held within it a large, white suitcase, something which SHADOW who stood on the opposite side of the older Commander quickly took notice of but didn't say anything about. "Oh? Hey there SHADOW! How are you doing today?" the Scientist questioned whilst leisurely strolling forwards.

**"I am well, however the same cannot be said for this situation..."**

"Hm? What are you talking about? What, did you miss me and my hands that much? Why's everyone so tense, actually?"

Upon hearing the tense response from the black dressed male, Ryouko's previous demeanour vanished, replaced by a confused and concerned one especially when she finally felt the rather... thick, ominous and tense situation in the Command Room. Everyone hardly shared her own chirpiness as she had once thought they would at her return, instead their features had grim expressions of dread and anxiety, especially with Hibiki one of the most... expressive of them all. SHADOW himself had his arms crossed in front of his chest, his gloved hands clutching his biceps tightly whilst looking like he were about to explode from the sheer angry crimson aura radiating from him, crimson electrical energy flaring from his person from time to time. Needless to say, things didn't look too good...

Which soon got clarified by Genjruro who dropped the bombshell on her. "The Minister of Defence, Hiroki has been assassinated."

"What?!"

Hearing that, a shocked gasp escaped Ryouko as she jogged up to the older man's other side, right next to where the frantic-looking Hibiki stood, before looking to the large Monitor. There, she saw various feeds showcasing the aftermath of what seemed to have been an assassination attempt indeed, with wrecked cars, small bullet casings scattered across the ground, patches of blood and a LOT of dead corpses. Two of which had been the Politicians whom had been tasked by Division 2 themselves, so in essence they had LITERALLY ordered these men to their deaths.

"A few "Revolutionary groups" have proclaimed responsibility, however nothing has been confirmed as of yet. We put every man on investigation."

"We were so worried because we couldn't contact you, either!"

**"Which brings us to the following question: where were you during all the time where all this was going down?" **

Hibiki exclaimed that second sentence, whilst SHADOW followed up with a question of his own whilst looking back at the woman from the corner of his left eye, only turning his head slightly in her direction.

To respond to this, Ryouko remained silent for a bit... before she pulled her phone out from her coat's pocket and tried to open it, only to find tat it wouldn't do so. She then sweat dropped nervously, chuckling as she looked back to them all as she gave a response. "Looks like my Terminal was broken, sorry dory about that..." she said, to which Genjuro and Hibiki gave unified sighs of exasperation, as if to say 'what am I going to do with you?'.

Only SHADOW reacted otherwise, narrowing his eye at her slightly before he turned back to the main monitor.

"I appreciate the Concern, though I think what I have with me is of greater importance than that." Ryouko then stated, walking to one of the sofas closest to her and placing the white Suitcase on top of it. She then proceeded to unclasp it, as she continued speaking. "I have with me classified orders from the Government. Defence Minister Hiroki made sure these were delivered successfully to me before his... unfortunate passing."

'... Vritra?'

**[You noticed?]**

'Hmph. I did. You too...?'

**[Of course, an Evil Dragon such as me could tell when mortals like you are BSing easily.]**

As SHADOW heard Ryouko and the other two proceeded to discuss what to do with the orders issued by the Government, SHADOW however had something else to focus on, something which had his attention WAY more than some adult dying...

The smell of Blood that came from the Suitcase.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**I am SO sorry for the lack of updates guys, for any of my stories. I guess that its a combination of RL stuff going on like college work and the fact that I'm prepping to go to University, and my own lacking inspiration and desire to write that's the cause. But at last I was able to get this chapter out for you all, the start of the next section that the first Symphogear Season has to offer... one where I plan on making SEVERAL alterations to the events that follow, so look forward to those. I know this one didn't have all that much going on outside of CANON, but I wish to get back into the swing of things, and this seemed like a good opportunity to do so. Please bear with me for the time being. **

**Hope you liked the chapter, let me know what you think, and see you all in the next one.**

**Peace Out!**


	16. Chapter 16 - Durandal and Huh?

**Chapter 16 - Durandal and... Huh?**

"Looks like things will be progressing to the next stage soon."

"Yeah, as much as I don't like it you and me both are going to be on this next assignment..."

"What, its almost like you don't want me to be with you here? Aw, you hurt my poor little heart..."

"Can it, idiot!"

"Hmmmm… nope!"

"Why you!"

Within a lavish looking Living Room, Sun chuckled in amusement and merriness as he used a single arm to fend off Chris's incoming punches and kicks, much to the lavender haired girl's frustration. She never did have as much cardio as him, a proper CQC fighter whom had done way more stamina-dependent missions than her, hence her strikes didn't last for long as she had to stop to catch her breath. They sat on a single sofa, with their respective Relic near their persons whilst they waited patiently for their next orders from their 'mother' as much as Sun disliked calling her that.

As of late, Sun hadn't been too busy with anything idol related, having been ordered to keep a low profile by Fine so he would be more 'available' for her plans. Well, more like battle ready for future encounters with that SHADOW character, someone whom she had deemed a threat to what they had been trying to achieve with his versatile abilities and how he had been able to fight on par with Sun himself. whereas he didn't mind not singing as much as he used to in front of a crowd as much, the more important part to him, had been the last one.

THAT part had stung at his pride a bit, as much as he hated to admit that the woman had been right about something, for someone else to claim to be someone who could fight on his level did not tickle Sun's fancy at all, he wanted to take that guy out of the picture as possible. SHADOW's existence threatened his own 'standing' one could say, within Fine's eyes, which wasn't a good thing. The only reason why she even kept him around and allowed him to do the stuff he did was due to how valuable he had made himself out to be, so if someone else who threatened that value appeared, then perhaps Fine would move 'on' to not only that person, but Chris as well. Not something Sun appreciated.

Right now, whilst the two were bickering like this, these were the kind of moments that the blonde singer appreciated the most in between the hectic, downright chaotic times that they lived in. To be able to laugh so comfortably like this, to be able to live so easily like nothing else mattered, Sun wouldn't trade these things for the world since they were so rare, which made them all the more precious to him.

But like all things, nothing truly could last forever, a fact he became all too painfully aware of when he got a text from Fine on his Phone which had been nearby. It's contents told him everything that he needed to know, causing his eyes to narrow and his gaze to harden. "Whelp, as we expected those guys are playing right into her hands. They're moving out, so lets get going. You got the Staff?"

"Who do you think you're asking, of course I have it!" Chris sharply retorted, reaching for the said Relic which had lay beside her. She then stood up from the sofa, slapping his hand away from her when he tried to reach for her as she left the Room to go prepare. She'd also taken the Armour with her too, so she at least would be getting prepared.

Though that wasn't to say that Sun didn't have anything occupying him either, as proven moments later when he heard a series of frustrated grunts within his link to a certain monster Partner of his.

**[That mortal... how can one be so ungrateful? She didn't even TRY to see how you've been trying to calm her nerves for this upcoming mission, and instead throws you under the bus. Why, you might as well consider her a-]**

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

What started as one of the usual mocking from Wukong about the way that Chris treated her friend, soon got smashed into dust when suddenly a wave of tension erupted from within the blonde boy, his hair shadowing his eyes as he hung his head and gripped the sofa's arm rest in his hand. An armrest... which got turned into nothing but DUST from the force that he had applied to it. "You can diss me and my ideals all you want, Wukong… but don't ever, EVER speak ill of the one thing that keeps me sane in my presence..."

**[...Hmph.]**

After that response, as surprising and unexpected as it had been, Wukong simply huffed and retreated back into his usual space within Sun's mind. However, if one were to say he was unaffected by what just happened with Sun just now, they'd be mistaken. The being knew what that had been, and it did NOT like it one bit: not only did it seem that all the combined stress from the lifestyle Sun had been living, his strained, perhaps even toxic relationship with his so-called 'friend' and lastly the worry that he may be 'threatened' by this SHADOW's presence had started causing... THAT thing to stir. The ting which Sun repressed almost on a psychological level, not just physically.

THAT thing's return... would be very bad, it'd spell a whole lot of trouble.

Trouble which it had no patience for.

* * *

Chaos.

That could sum up the events that followed suit once the announcement of the Defense Minister's demise reached everyone's ears at the Division 2 Headquarters. Of course, like anyone would, workers wanted to know who did such an act and why, however answers weren't properly provided since there were truly none to be given. Nothing concrete at least, which didn't sit well with the majority of them as the hushed whispers and vague rumors which pointed fingers at all kinds of possible conclusions could attest to. It didn't help that with the recent emergency, the chaos surrounding Division 2 couldn't have become any more transparent if they tried, and only through the expert leadership of their Commander could they still organize themselves to get the job that they were requested by the Japanese Government to do, done.

Furthermore, the workers of Division 2 knew that this did NOT bode well for their future, since the Minister of Defense was one of the few people up in politics who allowed them the freedom to operate within Japanese territory that they had. Whilst there were other potential allies that they had in the Political world, their numbers weren't that high compared to those whom wanted them to be put on a tighter 'leash' which, in layman's terms, pretty much meant that they wanted them under the pockets of a specific party, allowing them to have more influence and power over the country. It didn't help that there was an upcoming election for Prime Minister coming up later in the year, and with such a golden goose laid out in front of them, every available candidate may as well be like a lone wolf, hunting the others down and striking at the moment there was an opportunity to exploit. Before, they didn't have to worry much about all this, though some still kept an ear out just in case, since as long as they had such a capable Minister on their side then they could bear with the scorn they got from their colleagues and continue on their duty like nothing else mattered in the world.

So, with Defense Minister Hiroki's death their future ability to be so effective in their jobs could potentially be put in jeopardy.

However, those worries had to be put on hold for the time being, as their current orders issued by the Japanese Government, had been to procure a specified object from within their own possession, a Complete Relic (one of the few which still remained that were in their clutches) known as 'Durandal': the same sword which belonged to the Legendary Roland, legendary paladin of Charlemagne in French epic literature. They were to take it out of containment within their deepest sector, known as the 'Abyss', and were to transport it to a secure storage facility known only as the 'Ruins of Memory', where they stored all kinds of different ancient artifacts. Of course there had been a divisive set of opinions regarding these orders, with one side claiming that transferring it out of the Abyss wasn't the smartest move out there since the Abyss was built with the very PURPOSE of holding Relics like that one in mind, so there would be very few places which would be suitable for storing it. Storing it inside the Ruins of Memory however, seemed like the other side's preference, since it housed many such Relics and thus proved itself as a place where they could be hidden away from those who would try to possess them for nefarious deeds. Still, in the end Division 2 could only comply with these orders since they came directly from the Japanese Government, hence another reason why there was a high amount of unrest within the Force.

* * *

"This feels way too much like we're playing into the hands of another foe... I don't like it."

**[Hmph, destroying that damned piece of Junk seems like a better option than risk letting it fall into enemy hands, or perhaps even letting US have it. That sword could make for at least SOMEWHAT of an appetizer for my future hoard...]**

"Well, considering the fragility of our alliance Vritra, I doubt they would see it the way that you do... though if I DID have Durandal on my side I bet I could finish off that damned Ape in our inevitable rematch..."

Meanwhile, in one of the waiting rooms beneath Lydian Private Academy within Division 2's Headquarters, SHADOW stood close to one of the walls, leaning against it whilst looking like he was lost in thought, one hand inside his coat's pocket whilst the other cupped his chin with its thumb and index finger. Thanks to the shadows (pun intended) generated by his coat's hood, most of his features got concealed save for a bit of his mouth, as well as his eyes which showcased an intense, fierce gaze which looked to be aimless. A sign of the male's pondering to be sure, as he currently kept himself busy till the inevitable operation by pondering about it, looking at it from multiple different approaches. He was alone in this room for the time being, but that was fine with him, since he knew that there would inevitably be others who would come to this room in time, so he'd use this chance to get his thoughts in order.

SHADOW wasn't a fool, he could SMELL manipulations behind the Governments actions almost immediately after the orders had been announced by Ryouko, orders which he didn't think were wise himself which apparently a majority of the officials in that Command Room agreed with (although Hibiki remained Neutral due to not understanding any of it, that goofball her). Though he could also sense a bit of desperation behind them, desperation likely born from both the increasing Noise events which had been reported to be around the entire Academy as if they were trying to encircle it. He guessed there must have been too much paranoia within those old coots for such orders to have been allowed to come to pass, but for the life of him SHADOW felt like there was more to it than that.

It didn't take him very long to suss out a possible theory though, one which pertained to this Third Party likely being the mastermind.

Thinking about it in that way, it made a lot more sense as well as explained a few things. If he were a third party with a considerable amount of influence and power (he believed this party had such due to how they were able to stay hidden for so long and fool the masses into not realizing they exist, perhaps even had managed to slip into a high ranking position to keep people off their tail), then arranging for such a powerful Complete Relic which apparently were low in number, would be a simple task if the danger and pressure were enough to scare the Government into pushing something so precious out into the open to steal. Thus, SHADOW believed that the chance for an interception by this Party would be high, and according to his instincts SHADOW bet that the girl with that Armour along with that damned Ape would have something to do with this. He could feel that they would be meeting shortly, so he felt QUITE eager to settle the score from last time, especially with that Ape.

**[Speaking of that stupid monkey, we need to talk about his capabilities... his situation too, actually.]**

Although nobody was around to aim this gesture to, SHADOW arched his brow as he figured out what the Evil Dragon meant by that. It didn't take him long. "You must be referring to how that guy's physiology, eh? About how he seems to have broken ass defensive options? That, and the assortment of weapons he possesses." He stated, more than asked anyways. To him, it was indeed strange, if one were to use a Symphogear's Armed Gear, then they would manifest one of such, according to what he knew of them from Genjuro when he'd asked alongside his many battles with Tsubasa in the last 2 years. However, this guy... he was different, for he had multiple different Armed Gears in the forms of that Staff, that Gourd and that Cloud. Not to mention that ridiculous level of defence that he apparently possessed. "You got anything?"

**[Yes, and you're not going to like it. #SIGH# From what I observed of him during our battle, it would appear that his Gear is... somehow like a Hybrid. A Hybrid of Symphogear and Synchrogear.]**

This caught the male's attention judging by how his eyes enlarged slightly and his jaw parted to form an ovular shape. "Wait, what? How the heck can THAT be a thing?" SHADOW questioned in more confusion than shock. Considering the shit that he dealt with on a daily basis, from both the Noise and... well other stuff, this didn't really constitute as a surprise for him. Synchrogears may as well be rare like their Symphogear cousins, but encountering another member of his own kind wasn't something that could shake him. Encountering a mix between BOTH technologies though? That was something to consider, especially with how each system was supposed to work. "Well, in any case that DOES sound quite interesting... you think the reason why he has to Sing in order to create a better Synch Rate between him and his monster is because of..."

**[Most likely. It must appear like it can function like an ordinary Symphogear on the surface, but perhaps its workings are actually similar to a Synchrogear's, which would explain why his body is so damn durable. I can easily see it having strong healing capabilities as well with its physical ability. That doesn't mean we don't have options against him however.]**

**"I can think of a few things. For one, whilst his body's going to be difficult to damage, I don't think his weapons are the same, but then again we'll need to see about that. Some manipulation and a bit of power experimentation and it could be possible, What of your side Vritra?"**

**[For one, even though his body is so damn durable, thanks to our Synch Rate being higher than his we will be able to inflict lasting damage on him if we hit hard enough, remember my flames have a strong effect of negating healing. It will work on him, I am sure of it, whereas how effective it will be well... only a rematch will tell.]**

**"Well, to maximize efficiency, perhaps constant exposure to your flames can be an option. Trapping and isolating him within a large barrier should do the trick, and if he does get out his body would likely be severely damaged from the attempt... letting me get some good shots off on his lazy ass."**

"Uhhhh… Ta-SHADOW?"

"?!"

Whilst SHADOW had his conversation with his partner, he wound up isolating himself from his surroundings due to getting rather into the topic of , he ended up not noticing that Hibiki had found walked up to him, looking rather confused and slightly concerned for him, something which caused the male to jump slightly in surprise. 'Oh shit, Hibiki saw me! She must be wondering if I need to be sent to a mental asylum or something...!' the male thought to himself in mild panic, before he cleared his throat whilst quickly regaining his previous collected demeanor. **"Ah, Hibiki. You're here...You seem to be considerably tense. Not only about the upcoming mission next morning." **he stated, at first looking mildly sweaty from his nervousness until he noticed something about the girl which caused him to switch to a more concerned, yet collected tone.

Hibiki herself sweat dropped too, not just at what had happened but also is quick recovery. Though she thankfully chose not to bring up what he had unintentionally did since she... well, she had a bit on her mind as well. "Yeah, I'm good. Things with the Boss and everyone are a bit hectic, but that's mostly due to the operation we're going on..." she replied, trailing off in the end as she glanced to the side.

Something which SHADOW noticed. **"What is it that troubles you so? If you desire an ear, I shall lend you mine."**

"Ah, well don't do that LITERALLY please." Hibiki responded with a mildly panicked facial expression, as the way SHADOW had worded it almost made it seem like he meant it literally, not figuratively. "but its nothing, really..." Hibiki began to say more in that same manner, waving her hands in front of her face. That is, until she noticed the 'no bullshit with me' look that the guy sported, which reminded her of just WHO it had been behind that Mask of his. As such, her previous demeanor faltered and eventually resulted in her releasing a tired, weary sigh. "Ahhh... guess I can never hide things from you, huh?" she remarked with a rather weak looking smile, one which spoke VOLUMES about her current feelings regarding this situation... or rather, a certain OTHER situation brewing between her and a certain someone as SHADOW theorized.

**"Your friend?"**

Turned out that he had been right on the money, based off the expression that Hibiki made as she nodded in response, lowering her gaze to the ground as she sat down over at one of the sofas. "I... had to lie to her again... even as she covered for me in class for my morning training..." she proceeded to explain, although just from looking at her one could tell that she had a difficult time admitting it. Or rather, admitting that she felt she had no other option BUT to lie according to what he was seeing from her right now, a theory which got confirmed with her following words. "Miku... she tried to get answers from me again before, but I couldn't give her any... she must be really mad at me."

SHADOW furrowed his brows behind his Mask as he heard this, knowing JUST how delicate this situation was since he had found out the inside scoop during their many battles with the Noise together. Perhaps his intervention back before his fight with that Ape had only delayed the inevitable, something which he had realized a bit quickly much to his internal dismay since he had wanted things to be alright between those two. According to his knowledge Hibiki and Miku had been close since childhood, so t see their bond being strained like this REALLY didn't sit that well with him. Just as he made to say something though, his eyes widened when he noticed what the young girl looked to be reaching towards on the small table in front of the Desk.

However, he couldn't say anything as the girl had already opened a large newspaper, revealing a double paged spread showing a tall woman in her 20's... winking sultrily alongside posing rather suggestively whilst wearing nothing but a set of underwear.

"Eek!"

**"Ah..."**

Face redder than a tomato, Hibiki hurriedly closed the newspaper and turned her head away, trying her best to push the sight of that woman out of her mind. Heck she held it away from her like she were holding a disgusting trash bag... not like he'd blame her.

'Oh geez, I should have known those things would be bought by the male workers here...' the hooded male couldn't help but grown in his mind, utter annoyance and contempt filling his being as he made to once again recover his composure after seeing such... material. Of course, he knew for a fact that guys like him tended to have preferences to pornographic material. There were MANY stereotypes that portray men as sex-obsessed machines, from Books, television shows, and movies that often featured characters and plot points that assumed that men were crazy about sex and women were only concerned with romance.

It often annoyed him that people said that men were just sexual predators though, as there were examples of this NOT being the case. Case in point, a particularly interesting study at a University of over 200 students debunked the popular myth that men thought about sex every seven seconds. That would mean 8,000 thoughts in 16 waking hours, whereas those young men in the study reported thoughts of sex 19 times per day on average, and in comparison the young women in the study reported an average of 10 thoughts about sex per day.

One can find all sorts of things on the internet these days... not all of it bad by the way.

Furthermore, to describe a man's views on sex would be considered as a 'Sex Drive' or a Libido, and since there was no numeric measurement for libido, sex drive was better understood in relevant terms. For example, a low libido means a decreased interest or desire in sex. The male libido lives in two areas of the brain: the cerebral cortex and the limbic system. These parts of the brain are vital to a man's sex drive and performance. They are so important, in fact, that a man can have an orgasm simply by thinking or dreaming about a sexual experience. SHADOW had heard a few stories about things like this from eavesdropping on both male Division 2 workers as well as students at his High School, learning of how some of them had less sexual interest than others as opposed to what the media liked to portray.

**[...Now that you mention it, Perhaps this explains why I see little to no sexual activity in your memories, then. Would you consider yourself as a male with low libido, then?]**

'I'd say... yeah, I'm one of those types of guys. To be frank, I hardly think of it at all unless its brought to my attention by a outside source like this. Relationships and Sex never registered on my radar in the past, especially with all that shit that went on...'

A while of awkward silence dominated the airspace between the two of them, with Hibiki remaining in that position whilst SHADOW wisely kept his eyes averted away from the scene. Eventually however, she managed to get a sentence out despite it sounding like she wanted to scream and run for the hills. "I -I guess, guys like this sort of thing, then..."

**"N-Not all of them..." **SHADOW responded, just as awkwardly as evident by the stutter that he did, despite cursing himself for such a response internally whilst scratching his lower jaw. As much as he proclaimed to have a low Libido, talking about it to a young impressionable woman like Hibiki did not count as something he took comfort in. Maybe there were studies showing men to have an easier time thinking ad talking about sex, but he wasn't one of them.

"Ah..."

Waiting to get away from this topic of conversation as quick as possible, Hibiki made to lower the Newspaper, but when she did so Hibiki and SHADOW noticed that it showed another page, this one MUCH more interesting for different reasons depending on who one asked. It showed a picture of Tsubasa, or rather, a picture of her recent announcement of taking a break to recover from overworking. She looked hardly anything like when they had last seen her, looking so lively and joyful as she waved at the camera as the picture got taken whilst sporting a professional smile on her face.

Seeing this picture made SHADOW recall when Tsubasa had fought that Nehushtan Armour wielder where she had unleashed her Superb Song, nearly killing herself which caused him to scowl. A scowl which expressed no small levels of frustration and anger. **"This woman...****"** He muttered under his breath, loud enough for Hibiki to hear. **"I never could completely like her songs, even before I found everything out. After that Concert, they just seemed so... hollow, void of any true spirit compared to her previous works. That's not even considering her fighting ideals. To me, her blade, although as sharp as any weapon used to cut the Noise, felt like it was 'damaged' in a sense, broken away from its true form and purpose. The way she changed that day... it did not do her any good, it would seem." **he admitted, pocketing his hands inside his coat as he levelled his stern gaze up to his companion. **"There's a reason why I always refer to her as a 'broken blade' all these years."**

"W-Well..." Hibiki muttered, frowning as she heard his words and his opinion on the Idol. As much as she was a fan of Tsubasa's songs, that part of her being super triggered inside by what he had said about her, she couldn't say she disagreed with him either. Evidence pretty much painted the truth in front of her eyes, how different Tsubasa truly was compared to how people viewed her as. "But in her defence, she did lose her best friend... her and Kanade seemed like they were truly close to one another..."

SHADOW shook his head at that response. **"Yeah, but she acts like she was the only one who lost a loved one that day, heck people lose their loved ones all the time, as unfortunate and infuriating as it is." **Why did that feel like it hit closer to home, Hibiki wondered as she made to say something about that cold remark, but SHADOW continued before she could. **"No matter the circumstance, there's never a guarantee that loved ones will remain by your side forever, and death comes for us all in the end."** As he said this, SHADOW's eyes glistened slightly, memories coming back to him of things... that had happened in the past, but he didn't wallow on them for long and instead focused on saying his piece, hardening his gaze into a stone mask as his mouth clenched tightly.** "That's why... you have to keep on going, to keep on surviving and live on for their sakes. Wallowing in self-pity is pointless and it wastes too much time, yet she's been like that for multiple years now. Time waits for no man, as unfortunate as it may seem."**

"Not everyone is as strong as that though, SHADOW."

"Hm?"

"Ah!"

Just as SHADOW finished his speech, one which had been spoken with a strong degree of passion to it, the voice of Shinji Ogawa soon rung out, drawing their attention to the suited Manager. Said man stood not too far from them, having paused his stride to say that piece of information before he walked up to the two, his gaze polite yet slightly stern which the black hooded male believed to be the signs of how Shinji REALLY felt about his words just now. "People rely on each other when things get tough, that's just how us humans are."

**[One of the MANY flaws in the human species, if you ask me.]**

SHADOW mentally nodded in agreement with his partner when he spoke those words, all while Hibiki happily greeted the older man, and when she gestured to the newspaper image of the blue haired Idol Shinji proceeded to explain that side of things. "Information control is also part of my job here, and while we're on the topic of Tsubasa, I'm happy to let you two know that she's not in any critical danger anymore." Shinji announced, much to Hibiki's joy whilst SHADOW merely nodded curtly. His words still rung in the atmosphere, and he'd made it VERY clear just how he viewed Tsubasa at the moment. "but she'll need to stay in Division 2's Medical facilities for a while, so her concert at the end of the month will have to be cancelled." Shinji explained further, sitting down next to Hibiki whilst doing so. "Now then... how should I apologize to her fans? Would you help me think of something?"

'Wait, why is this Adult asking Hibiki something regarding on how to do HIS job?'

Apparently, Shinji realized it the same time as SHADOW thinking this, as before he could say anything the man quickly proceeded to explain himself. Perhaps seeing the shocked and surprised look form on Hibiki's face also helped. "Ah, wait, that isn't what I meant...!" he tried to say, his face morphing into one of panic and concern. A few seconds later however, his fears became unfounded when the young girl chuckled slightly in amusement, causing him to give an embarrassed smile back. "Sorry, I didn't mean to blame you or anything... its just that, what I'm trying to say is, whatever you do, lots of people are behind you, helping you in all sorts of ways. So, I think you can afford to relax a little."

'That... actually makes a lot of sense...' SHADOW thought, eyeing Shinji with no small amount of wariness, but at least it wasn't like before when he had been about to incinerate the man whilst seeing him as utter scum. 'The old 'power of friendship' cliche, where people believe that just because they have strong bonds it will solve all their problems. As much as I hate that cliche, its a fact that humanity is a pack-based species, which means that they naturally will feel more confident in groups. Heck, girls embody this since they hang out in groups quite a lot, for multiple different reasons too. Making being around other people more bearable, a form of comfort, security and personal safety.'

"... You're nice, Ogawa san."

"I'm just scared. There are other people way kinder than me."

Whilst the black suited man stated this along with his ashamed smile, Hibiki herself didn't believe that, not one bit, but she didn't have that much time to try and convince the guy otherwise. Like many guys, they each had their stubborn pride and stuff... though she did admit that there were girls who were the same. "Well, I do feel a bit better. Thank you." she replied whilst standing up. "I'll get as much rest as I can so I can do my best on the job." she declared, bowing to the older man and then proceeding to run off.

Shinji watched her leave, sporting a sad yet nostalgic smile on his face. "If only... if only Tsubasa can be more like you, Hibiki..."

SHADOW didn't respond to this, finding there to be no need as he simply vanished in a ring of his Black Flames. To him, there was no need to be here any longer, he didn't want to converse with adults beyond anything necessary, if he didn't have business with them then he would not associate himself with them on anything other than a professional basis.

What he DIDN'T notice as the flames took him away however was the look of mild concern on Shinji's face as he stared over at his retreating form.

'Durandal... According to what Sakuya told me recently... perhaps that Relic won't be the ONLY Relic we'll have to worry about in the future...'

* * *

Finally, the time of the mission came at long last, with the morning sun just beginning to emerge from the horizon in the distance. Though currently, the night still held somewhat of a dominating presence over the still speeding city... a city which would have NO idea of what would be going down in the near future, save for a certain military group.

Currently, Genjuro and Ryouko stood together in front of a line of Division 2 Members. Members who consisted of Hibiki on one side, with SHADOW on the other and men in black suits with matching Shades. Behind them were a row of varying cars, most of them being the classic black ones any secret Government organisation would use to get around... with the sole exception of Ryouko's pink car in the middle.

**[Could that car be ANY more obvious? Should the foe intercept, they're going to know which to target first... if not, then the human race has sunken to a new low.]**

'Believe me Vritra, there's literally going to be ZERO limits to how low people can sink these days...'

"Attention!" Genjuro called out, unaware of the dialogue between SHADOW and his partner as he placed his hands behind his back. His role as commander made it so that he would be remaining within the HQ beneath the School, so he wasn't going with them. "You are all being deployed under the pretext of investigating the death off Defence Minister Hiroki. Make haste for the Ruins of Memory." his orders, short and simple, pretty much conveyed the entire situation as quick as it had been effective. The slight stiffening seen on the men showcased that they heeded these orders, whilst Hibiki perked herself up by puffing out her chest. In her mind, she kept repeating to herself that she would not be failing as a form of a morale boosting mantra.

If there was SOMETHING that SHADOW could acknowledge about the man, that would be that for an adult he sure as hell had skill in conveying his words effectively. Probably honed through his many years in a position of authority.

Then, as if to offset Genjuro's seriousness in the situation, and to add a bit of comedy (not like he thought it necessary) Ryouko then offered a V sign, and a chirpy proclamation to go with it. "Then lets give this operation a Codename: The Plan to Make Everything All Right for Only Us!"... naturally, a group of sweat drops happened to be their response to the chirpy woman's statement, ESPECIALLY regarding that lame as hell title.

Though it jut served to raise SHADOW's suspicions of her even more.

Afterwards, everything proceeded as planned, with the men in black taking their positions within the black cars pronto. Hibiki almost fell over, flailing her arms about like a lunatic when one of them accidentally bumped into her had it not been for the Scientist catching her by hooking her arms underneath her shoulders, halting her movement. Looking up at the smiling woman, Hibiki beamed happily at her. "Th-Thanks Ryouko san!" she proclaimed in gratitude, earning a giggle in response.

"No problem, my dear. Follow me, you'll be riding with me and the Relic, its already inside my car waiting for us, the dynamic duo." Ryouko replied as she let Hibiki separate from her to get her balance back. She also proceeded to head on over to her Car, already pulling out her keys to unlock it. Hibiki soon jogged on after her, and they would have boarded the Car at this moment... "Ah, SHADOW san! What a surprise, I didn't expect you to be THERE of all places." had it not been for a certain someone.

That someone being the black dressed male... who sat cross legged atop the Car itself.

**"Since your car is so 'bright' and 'obvious' as a target, I will be acting as the Convoy's main defence against aggression." **SHADOW replied evenly, crossing his arms under his chest as he heard the other cars beginning to start. When Ryouko made to say something, the teen quickly cut her off by clicking his fingers, and from his feet his Flames covered the Car's entire roof. The Flames on the roof then proceeded to solidify, becoming a metallic structure shaped like her Car's roof. Though they had also spread across the entire car like they were a liquid being poured onto the vehicle itself... which resulted in the Car becoming an armoured, black and red futuristic looking TANK rather than a pretty, frail car. All the while, SHADOW summoned his Schlagen as his primary arm whilst summoning Donner as his secondary, pocketing it within his Coat whilst summoning Orkan as well. As the male stood atop the armoured Roof, coattails fluttering in a soft breeze, he then shifted his gaze downwards so he could eye the two stunned-looking women. **"Just some extra defence modifications. This will keep me tethered to your car too, allowing me to defend like a Turret in Tower Defence. I got permission from the Commander to do this, not like it would have mattered to me if he didn't approve. Anyways, we must be off, this Relic shall not deliver itself."**

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Whelp, here's the second chapter of this arc, guys. Not very exciting I know, sorry bout that. But we will soon be getting to the battle over Durandal, with each of the players gathering together into one specific spot. There's stuff going on with both sides, too, stuff which may be revealed in the upcoming chapters. Though I will say this, I think I'll be changing up the battles in some places, just so it doesn't look like I'm carbon copying from CANON with just some extra OC's. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off like I have for the previous battles so far, and I also hoppe you all like this chapter. I'll see you all in the next one.**

**Peace Out!**


	17. Chapter 17 - A Golden Experience PT 1

**Chapter 17 - A Golden Experience PT1**

"Ah… So the players are going to converge on the prize, now…"

Standing atop a ruined building, a masculine figure shrouded by darkness overlooked the route which Division 2 would be taking. How or why the figure managed to figure out that this would be the route they'd travel, was unknown… just like what the figure looked like considering the darkness came from the shadows from the sunrise in distance. Furthermore, the figure's intense gaze along the route almost seemed like he had been… calculating, planning for something ever since he first stepped foot on this viewing area. If that was truly the case however, well, that would be one of the many mysteries surrounding this figure, much like the figure's appearance, mentality, personality among multiple others that, as of right now, would remain shrouded within the fog of illusion.

However, what this illusion DIDN'T hide from the world at large about him… was how he seemed to be equipped with a Suitcase, one that looked STARKLY like the one that Ryouko carried. It had both the same size as well as the shape of it, whilst he carried it within his right hand's grasp. Only, several differences could be noted between them: one, there was no sign of blood anywhere on it, making it look practically undamaged. Then there's the second difference: that it had a differing colour scheme to it with this being a brownish golden colour, along with how it seemed to 'shudder' slightly due to the contents inside.

Contents of which he had 'liberated' from its 'confinement'.

"Well, its to be expected of course, since this IS revolving around HER plan for this world… that foolish woman. As much as she claims to have such 'grand' goals, ideals and sees herself as superior to the mortal man, she has lost sight of the one true truth regarding her identity… and true stature within the grand plan for the future…"

The figure spoke these words with no small amount of disappointment, of dismay and internal frustration with this so-called 'woman' whilst seemingly shaking its head, clenching both its apparently occupied fists tightly. Yeah, BOTH fists, for whilst his right hand held the handle of the briefcase, the LEFT one on the other hand… it held something FAR more noticeable in comparison:

In his left hand, the figure held a long Gun, shaped like that of a rifle, though there were several stark features to take note about it. First, the Stock had a golden, ornamental appearance with black as its secondary colour, which attached itself to a set of golden, winding tubes which spiralled together to about half of the Rifle's full size, ending in a single barrel. Two black, long and cylindrical pieces formed a U shape from the Rifle's base to its tip where a single bullet could be seen locked and primed, ready to fire. If anything, as confusing as this weapon looked, it had many similarities to a Single Shot Rifle. Though, a difference between normal ones and this one would be that the whole weapon carried a sense of… danger, to it, a sense which far surpassed that of a normal version. Like, this weapon held secrets to it so deep, so high scale that normal weapons couldn't even BEGIN to compare…

Sort of like the Guns which a certain black dressed fighter forged with his powers.

Glancing down at his weapon, the figure released a soft sigh, not even looking behind him as he raised it, then pointed it behind him over his left shoulder to shoot a single round… one which blasted apart a small HORDE of incoming Noise before they could even be seen as a threat by Division 2, leaving their presence along this route forever lost to the annuls of history. What's more, was it did this the moment it made contact with the first Noise, then released a shockwave behind the said Noise which obliterated the others no matter how fast they could have tried to flee. This Gun… after it had fired, a new bullet got 'loaded' into position from within the winding tubes before it got locked into place like its predecessor, a process which didn't even take a second which raised the possibility of this weapon being capable of simultaneous rapid fire.

Lowering the Gun, the figure released a sigh, before glancing down at the rattling Briefcase.

"This one's getting anxious. Guess that means they're getting ready to mobilize… well then, lets go see your chosen candidate, shall we?"

Things finally went underway, and SHADOW couldn't have been more relieved yet tense at the same time.

Once everyone had mounted their vehicles, they drove off. Their formation being a cross shaped one, with the black cars surrounding Ryouko's pink one, which had its own defence in the form of SHADOW on top of it. The teen stood tall with his hands in his Coat pockets whilst he eyed their surroundings in case of incoming oppressive attacks, allowing the coat tails to flutter in the breeze along with the rest of his outfit. The male wasn't a fool, he pretty much mentally confirmed that there would be an attack on them and, if his instincts were accurate about the strength and resources this third party had in this case, then these men may not be enough to counter it.

Speaking of those men, SHADOW had to admit that, for the amount of info that they had, they definitely had the preparation down solid as he glanced at the various Cars surrounding the one, he stood atop of. The intent behind this formation, according to Genjuro, had been so that they could defend her car on all sides, cause with the route they would be taking, whilst it indeed seemed like the quickest route to their destination it also had the most dangers to it, hence the defence convoy's formation. Each of the men inside were armed with pistols, rifles and shotguns for varying situations, even some handy military grade combat knives. Not so effective against the Noise, that was what he and Hibiki were for, but against human opponents? Whole new ball game.

With a shake of his head, the teen pulled himself out of those musings and stared ahead, seeing that they were approaching what looked to be a highway built over the ocean, heading to another portion of the City. If they were to be attacked by an outside enemy, then SHADOW guessed that this would be the prime time for them to strike… something which had sent his nerves into overdrive whilst a light bead of sweat born from nervousness appeared on his brow. The reason why he thought this was because not only was it a narrow path through the city, but it held multiple pillars for support over a large water body. With his experiences, SHADOW believed they could strike by destroying the pillars or parts of the highway, stripping away their defences or they could just launch one big aerial assault. Either or worked well since they would be in a large, open space and the most vulnerable to attack. At least before they did have the buildings as cover, but not this time.

After wiping his forehead to clean it with his right arm's sleeve, SHADOW stood tall, closing his eyes and listened to the humming of the Car's engine beneath his feet, clutching his Schlagen and Orkan respectively to calm his nerves. This would mark the first time he had ever fought alongside people other than Hibiki, since he usually fought solo against the Noise back in the past, so his nerves… weren't exactly calm like a river at the moment.

**[Just think of this as another simple hunt, partner. These foolish humans are simply walking targets full of holes, and you have the itchy trigger finger.]**

Fortunately for him, he had a helpful partner with the name of Vritra, something which worked wonders for him as SHADOW felt his nerves settle down significantly, just from hearing the Evil Dragon's voice. Kind of weird, but hey, when one has fought with someone else before for a long time frame, they do tend to form a strong bond. 'Yeah, your right Vritra… still, with how long we've fought together, that has to have affected our Synch Rate, right? What's it at now?'

**[75%]**

'Huh? Am I doing something wrong? I guessed a little higher there…'

**[Nothing to be worried over, you haven't given me reason to limit my power from you so far, partner. Through these years, you've conversed with me, asked my opinion on things and taken them into account. You haven't done much wrong in my eyes, us monsters simply have trust issues, a lot of us do actually. Think about it, we are always hunted by 'Heroes' and 'Gods' for whatever reason. Be it due to conflict, pride, whatever, therefore us having trust issues is only a natural occurrence.]**

'Ah, that makes sense. Still, it doesn't change the fact that, one day, I hope to have finally gained your complete trust Vritra. One day…'

…

…

…

…

…

…

… BOOM!

SHADOW's eyes, as well as everyone else's, when all of a sudden a part of the road collapsed in front of them, leaving a big ass hole in the highway ahead of them that had eve extended to the barrier at the side, meaning that should the Car on their left fall into it, destruction and death would likely follow. Instinctively, SHADOW reacted, performing a roundhouse kick and launching a wave of his flames over to the Hole, watching it solidify into a metallic platform which (luckily) managed to retain enough strength to allow the Car on their left to drive across unharmed.

This happened all under 3 seconds, by the way.

'Whew… I knew that learning to alter my Omnimatter's properties from flames into metal would be a good skill to have. It's like that white-haired dude with that loli vampire and rabbit girl from that edgy isekai's transmutation skill, only I have an insanely mouldable material to work with.' SHADOW thought as he looked around for any more signs of imminent destruction, deciding not to focus on the fact that he had been right about this whole thing. Now that they had been attacked like this, the teen put his mind on high alert, not to mention he could hear the sounds of alarm made by Hibiki and the others after the whole thing had occurred just now.

**[I assume then that you only saved those Adults simply due to you and Division 2 being allies?]**

'Pretty much. Most adults are the same pieces of garbage to me anyways, although there's a more practical reason: Whoever this third party is, they have a large amount of resources at their disposal which means that they will have more than one means of attack. If they control the Noise, especially. We'll be able to use them to deal with any human opponents who will likely come our way in the near future.' SHADOW replied to his partner, already raising his respective guns in preparation for another attack, even having adopted a stance similar to a crane he had once seen a picture of in a Manga he'd read about this school of girls carrying weapons to 'discipline' boys into acting the way they do. 'Correcting' them as they had called it. The reason why he took this stance…

BANG, BANG!

… Became apparent in the next few seconds as several holes opened up along the Highway ahead of them, forcing the Convoy to try and evade them the best they could. However that would have ended with multiple casualties, something SHADOW didn't believe would be good for their side so he would just kick out blasts of flames from his feet to create metallic platforms, allowing the Convoy to pass through unharmed.

_"__We're under attack! No confirmation, but it's likely the Noise!"_

**"****Seems like they took action quicker than anticipated…"**

A sound transmission came from beneath him, one which he recognized the voice as Genjuro's from Division 2's HQ. SHADOW wanted to say the phrase 'no shit, Sherlock!' at this moment, but refrained since there wasn't enough information at the moment, not to mention he still had some doubts as to whether or not this was really the Noise's doing. Doubts which got put to rest…

Within the next few moments.

FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-!

In an instant, from their left side multiple Noise shaped like the aerial ones seen at the Concert 2 years ago, burst out the Ocean and twisted themselves into spiralling drills the moment that they reached a high enough altitude, quickly shooting down like a rainfall of arrows towards the highway… ahead of them. A curse escaped SHADOW's lips as he held both his Schlagen and Orkan, launching rounds from both at the Noise after choosing the ones which, according to his mental predictions, would hit the Highway and obstruct them the most.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM- BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM- BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-!

Rapid Gunfire sounds filled the air, the sources being SHADOW's weaponry as he unloaded like he were opening the infernal gates to the underworld upon the foolish Noise, said creatures falling right into his weapons' line of sight like they didn't care anyways, resulting in them being blown RIGHT into oblivion by some big fucking guns (yeah, you fans of that certain demon killing franchises know what I mean #smirk#). Though, SHADOW did wish he could have over 9000 guns at once right now, as seeing them all unloading their rounds into the enemy like they would in that scenario would have been like listening to some sweet ass music…

Of destruction, that is.

'Still, there's so many of them… just how many did this party have to summon for this to be possible?!' SHADOW wondered as he saw more and more Noise shoot out of the water, still attempting to reach their goal and not minding the shredded sight of their brethren as they got torn apart into nothingness. 'This HAD to have been planned in advance, knowing that Division 2 would take this route. There's no way that this third party could have created such an elaborate, expansive trap like this otherwise, it'd be too difficult!' Yet, even as he mowed them down and the Noise still kept coming, SHADOW still kept enough brain power to consider the bigger scenario taking place here.

**[Check your right side, more enemies inbound!]**

FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-!

The call from his partner, one which got followed up with a notification from Genjuro seconds later, made SHADOW curse under his breath. Following the sounds of more Noise surfacing from the Water, the black dressed male acted like the living turret that he was and turned so that both his arms, one on the left and the other on the right, pointed towards the incoming Noise on both sides. During the turn, he had decided to swap out his Orkan for his Metzelei, the large Gattling Gun already rotating its barrel by the time the turn had completed itself so it could let out its steady stream of black, fiery bullets upon the Noise coming from the right as well.

_"__Report, everyone's status!"_

"A-ok on our end, Genjuro! SHADOW san is keeping the Noise from destroying the Highway for us and providing support to the Escorts. Good thing you decided against following on a Helicopter, lad, otherwise you could have been shot down then turned into swiss cheese."

Inside the Armoured Car, SHADOW heard Ryouko's cheerful response to the urgent transmission from HQ, causing him to sweat drop… though it soon vanished as SHADOW returned to his most important task right about now: making sure each of them got through this Highway relatively safe and sound. He had to admit though that this situation, as intense and gunfire filled as it was, made him feel less like a person and more like a human turret, something which he got reminded of a browser game online called Tower Defence by. 'Still, Ryouko DID have a point there, Genjuro being present on a chopper like he had originally stated he would, likely would have ended with hm being shot down by one of these Noise, which wasn't acceptable. The guy's pretty much the link holding Division 2 together along with keeping them on a… tolerable path, so if he were to expire here… I doubt I'd be able to stomach the new replacement since most adults are trash.' SHADOW thought as he soon had to switch to Donner and Schlag, his previous weapons having to be dismissed from service for the time being just like his Orkan.

The way that his weapons worked, or rather his Guns to be more specific, was that they could function as a way to better launch his ranged fireball attacks, the ones which he had used back in Asmodeus's Palace. He had made them using the 'transmuting' skill which he'd developed through the shifting of his Omnimatter, turning it into the metallic mould which would be the foundation for all his weapons and constructs. He still was limited to weapons for the time being, as it had been stated by Vritra recently, but should his Synch Rate with him improve further that would change, and he could use this ability in a much more… diverse manner. The possibilities would be endless, and he could imagine just how much he could add to his arsenal this way.

However, that wasn't the only method in which these weapons could be used for, as instead of just simply using them as means for his power to be let out more effectively without wasting it, SHADOW could simply 'recreate' the bullets for each Gun and store them within them for future usage, effectively creating 'Magazines' of which he could use to attack his enemies instead of relying on his main reserves like he had done with his fight against that dumb ape previously. The reason why he had chosen to develop THIS method, as according to Vritra his reserves had become significantly large thanks to their high Synch Rate and all the intense training he had done over the last few years, was so that he could preserve his power for the near future, as if his instincts were correct then it would be likely that the enemy would make their personal appearance sooner rather than later, an appearance in which they would be at full power whilst SHADOW himself, in that scenario, wouldn't. Not very favourable if one asked him, so he had developed 'Magazines' for his Guns so that he could use them for a prolonged time whilst still retaining his full power for his fights with the enemy. They were mainly for taking out the 'small fry' in essence, so they wouldn't be as effective against stronger opponents like that Ape or perhaps that lone woman who used that Staff, but SHADOW bet that could change in the future. The most amount of Magazines he'd made were for Donner and Schlag however, with the rest being given second priority since these babies were what SHADOW had predicted he would be forced to draw out, which turned out to be right in this situation as he used them in place of the other Guns to protect the Convoy.

He SO hoped that they would be getting this over with quickly though, since this method had taken a LOT of prep work from him beforehand.

By the time that SHADOW's Magazines ran out for the dual Handguns, the Convoy made it to the other side of the highway safely, causing the masked teen to release a sigh of relief as he lowered his arms, slumping slightly as he fell to one knee. His arms ached like all hell from firing for so long and so much, which would fade in a short moment, but it still remained present enough for him to notice. Still though, with his actions having prolonged the safety of their escorts meant that none of what had happened had gone to waste, so that was something which he had taken solace in. **"Ugh… that… was some intense gun action…" **SHADOW mumbled under his breath as he looked around, eyeing the various cars before looking to the various roads surrounding them, searching for more attacks.

Silence wasn't something which could provide comfort in this scenario, and everyone involved knew it. 'Too quiet… they must be doing something. What that is I'm not sure, and I don't like it. Best to stay on guard…' SHADOW thought, narrowing his crimson eyes at his surroundings. Since the Convoy entered the other side of the Highway, those Noise had stopped their little assault from the ocean, likely either because they had lost a considerable portion of their numbers or whomever was controlling them (he bet that the third party WAS controlling them due to how he had observed their behaviour) Fortunately, none came within his visual field, although that alone also caused a wave of worry to surge through his chest.

All the while, Genjuro and Ryouko conversed with one another over the radio, trying to conclude their next course of action.

"Genjuro, my boy, shouldn't we pull out? That Chemicals Factory is one big pile of Dynamite. If we go there, then Duradal…"

_"__I know! But upon analysing the trajectory, it seems the Noise were going for the Escorts not you, which SHADOW thankfully put a stop to. This means that they are likely under sentient control!"_

**[Something which we confirmed with each other, but alright. Now that we're on the same page here, we should focus-]**

Before Vritra could finish the sentence he had been trying to say whilst the car drove over a pothole cover which lead to the city's underground canals, when the black car behind them drove under it, suddenly a HUGE Geyser of water burst upwards like a volcanic eruption, launching it into the air and into another building before SHADOW could properly react, resulting in that car's destruction. A Loud eruption of smoke and dust followed, along with the loud booming sound that signified the end for those inside. 'Shit, fuck!' the black dressed teen cursed in his mind, especially since not too long afterwards a similar thing befell another of the black cars, lessening their escort's numbers to two. 'Wait a minute, are you shitting me?! They're-!'

_"__The Canals! The Noise are using the underground Canals to attack you all!"_

Things weren't looking good for them, SHADOW realized as the remaining 2 cars made it a point to avoid the pothole covers, learning from the mistakes their colleagues had made in their final moments. Not only did they lose half of their total forces, but upon looking upwards the male faintly caught the sight of something… blinking. His eyes widened when he soon realized what it was, quickly reaching out and forming a fist over the front of the Car's trunk.

**"****Ugh!"**

"You alright there, SHADOW san?!"

**"****Not really!" **the Teen countered the alarmed and concerned voice of Ryouko behind the steering wheel, all the while Hibiki herself had frozen up in horror, her heart nearly jumping outside her chest as SHADOW brought his hand back to him from his current position of on all fours over the Car's roof. Opening it, he found the remains of… what looked like a bullet, still steaming, embedded inside his gloved hand, not enough to break the Skin, but enough to make it so that he'll be feeling it when this was all over. **"Looks like we got ourselves some Mercenaries, guys! Just intercepted a Snip-" **Instincts flared up again as SHADOW formed his Shield in one hand, and his Daito in the other. The Shield gave an audible CLINK sound when something metallic collided with it, whilst his Daito was reflexively swung upwards to slice through something small. He didn't need to check what they were though, especially when he saw several bullet casings land on the roof beneath him. **"Multiple Snipers! Looks like they were lying in wait for us since the beginning, cause they're firing at me from all over the damn place!"**

"EHHHHH?!"

A cry from Hibiki escaped the Car, but SHADOW couldn't answer her back since he had to preoccupy himself with blocking and slicing through Sniper fire. His shield and sword swinging skills could be considered superior to his use of Guns, hence why he had been able to do this, all the while these weapons wouldn't drain any of his reserves. A win in his eyes for this situation, although it further supported his theory about this third party being someone with resources, power and a possible figure of high authority.

"Little Genjuro, we MIGHT need a bit of a plan here! Things are going to get dicey really quickly if we don't do something, and like, pronto! If we have Snipers, then there's a good chance these are the same people who targeted Defence Minister Hiroki!" Ryouko called out over the Radio, hoping to get a response from the Division 2 Commander.

A response which swiftly came back to them.

_"__Tch, is that so… very well, I have an idea! If these people want the Durandal so much, then we have to take it somewhere dangerous and then settle it! That Chemicals Factory's a prime Candidate here."_

"And what of our chances?"

_"… __Very low. But that's just fine, we're improvising! Men, follow Ryouko's lead, get to that Factory immediately!"_

"ROGER!"

Driving through the streets, Ryouko did so like a mad woman in order to avoid the majority of the Sniper fire whilst SHADOW took care of what he could on his end. Though, the Sniper fire seemed to be almost specifically trained on the car itself… or rather, on SHADOW specifically which it didn't take him long to notice and grow suspicious over. However, he refused to ponder on it for the time being since, well, he WAS currently defending not just himself but multiple Cars in a Convoy after all. It wasn't easy to do regardless though, since it always seemed like they knew EXACTLY which corners they'd turn at, what streets they'd take, and even their overall destination when their plans got cut short like this, which only further cemented the theory that these people knew what would be happening and had set up ambushes for them.

Fortunately, the route which Ryouko had taken had turned out to be the shortest one, which resulted in them reaching the Factory's entrance within a good 6 to 7 minutes. Though another reason why they had gotten there so quickly, aside from the roads being bare for the day, would be due to Ryouko's almost monstrous-level driving, nearly throwing SHADOW off the Car's roof more than a few times until he figured out how to balance himself according to how to predict the crazy scientist's movements.

'Note to self: never ride with Ryouko unless absolutely necessary…' The black dressed male thought, his face almost turning green by the time they neared their destination. Were it not for the urgency of their situation he would have found an isolated place to throw up his dinner last night though as they neared the entrance to the Chemical factory…

MORE trouble struck.

BOOM!

FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH!

At once, a couple of Slug shaped Noise burst out from a short distance ahead of them like sharks surfacing from the ocean to snag at some serial prey, leaping forth towards the black car in the front. One can guess which was the prey in this situation, eh? But if not… Upon seeing them, SHADOW's eyes turned into saucer's behind his Mask, a curse escaping his throat as he quickly jumped forwards, leaping off Ryouko's own vehicle before flipping into a rapid rotation. He ended up throwing out his Daito into a repeated spinning slash, slicing through the Noise before they could destabilize the black car of which he then landed on, standing up to then go and make to seal the hole cover shut. To stop more Noise from getting out through there…

BOOM!

FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH!

'God fucking DAMNIT!'

**[Truer words have never been spoken.]**

Vritra's words went largely ignored, though it didn't mind this one bit right now, since SHADOW hard more sounds of the ground erupting behind them. Looking to the source, the black dressed male growled when he noticed several more Noise, these ones shaped more like humanoid ones that quickly darted forwards, becoming long streaks which slammed into the rear black Car's backside.

"Guaaaah!"

"Uoooooh!"

**"****Shit!"**

Startled cried escaped the car's interior as they started to veer off course, heading into a wall close to the Chemical Factory. SHADOW, knowing that they would be having enemies on all sides and would likely need as much help as possible, proceeded to jump off the front black car…

"Hah!"

**"****?!"**

CLANG!

…Only to instinctively raise his Daito and block a strike from a large Staff, one which belonged to a certain blonde fighter who came at him from the right side and totally blindsided him. A shrill gasp escaped the black dressed male's lips at this occurrence, with only a couple second's worth of time to ascertain his attacker's true identity, though he didn't need even that long if the smell he got combined with what little details he'd seen (bit of the Staff, a few tuffs of blonde hair, and the corner of a mouth twitching upward implying a smirk) were to be believed.

**"****Y-You!"**

"Yeah, hello you rowdy fan. Leaving the stage without hearing for the encore isn't very polite, you know."

This brief exchange pretty much confirmed who the attacker had been in SHADOW's mind, although he couldn't do much at the moment to respond. Nevertheless, the surprise attack caught the black dressed male completely off guard, like a guy suddenly barging into a young girl's room while she had been training kind of surprise. Therefore, even though SHADOW had managed to block the strike at the last second with his Daito, the sheer impact and force behind it sent him flying away from all THREE cars, leaving SHADOW unable to see how the last black Car fared… though, the sound of it blowing up along with the other one pretty much confirmed it's destruction.

Even in the air, the teen had to curse himself, so much prep time he'd made before, WASTED! All because of this surprise attacker!

… He would be paying for that one, of THAT he became certain.

With that in mind, his fury combined with the feeling of having his draconian pride insulted caused the male to recover his bearings and quickly proceed to play damage control. Kicking the attacker off him, SHADOW flipped himself backwards into a double back flip, resulting in him landing on the ground before repeating the action a couple times to get some more distance, all until he planted both feet onto the concrete at once, sliding across it till his momentum got completely halted. Glancing upwards, SHADOW finally came face to face with his attacker, said guy casually stepping towards him like a model on a catwalk, twirling his Staff in one hand as fast as a set of helicopter blades.

'Ah, I see that smug ass smirk is just as annoying as I'd remembered…' the male couldn't help but note inside his mind. Deciding to follow proper curtesy even though this guy didn't deserve it for blindsiding him like that (though to be fair SHADOW HAD done the same to him, not like he'd admit that) **"… So, we meet again, Golden Sun." **SHADOW declared, using his free hand to pat down is Trench Coat, fortunately his hood had stayed over his head during that instance before since he didn't want this guy coming after him during his civilian lifestyle, but even if it had fallen he still had his black Domino mask to keep his identity secret.

Far off from his position, SHADOW notice Ryouko and Hibiki come under fire from the Noise, the latter carrying the suitcase containing Durandal whilst doing so. Seeing this made the teen scowl inside, biting down his instinctive desire to run on over. He would have tried to go help the two out, however SHADOW believed that this guy, Sun, wouldn't let that happen. The way he'd kicked him earlier implied that he had wanted to split him off from the rest of the group, which made him suspicious about whether or not this guy was working with the third party or not. 'Likely he is, judging from how he had interacted with that armour user back then, not to mention he seems to know more than he lets on about the overall situation…' the teen thought to himself.

"Yup, and I gotta say, been looking forward to this ballad of ours for a while now. Whilst my 'colleagues' take care of your friends, how about we have our own encore, cause I've been waiting to settle the score with you for a WHILE now." Sun responded, glancing over to where SHADOW's gaze had flickered to for a brief split second, noticing how that cream haired Gungnir user refused to abandon Durandal, something which would have went along with the plans SHE had. He had to give her credit for that, as she quickly activated her Symphogear after chanting it's holy chant, that girl reminded him of his childhood friend in the guts department. Thus, as she started to take on the Noise with some surprising level of skill compared to what he had heard from his friend about her, Sun's attention returned to SHADOW, whom had let caution take the reins and stop him from attacking in that moment.

**"****Hmph, well then, lets start with this then: how do you like your meat?"**

"Huh? Wait, what?"

BOOM!

"?!"

**"****I prefer my meat to be roasted well, like well-done steaks, myself."**

SHADOW, in reality, hadn't attacked himself cause he had been too busy puling the same move which he had back during the Kamoshida Palace incident, keeping Sun distracted whilst discreetly guiding a small fireball from his Purgatory Dragon Flames to his feet. Upon him asking that question and getting that response however, SHADOW had simply clicked his fingers, detonating it RIGHT beneath his feet. The result?

A black eruption which knocked Sun right into the air.

Igniting Purgatory Flames beneath his feet, SHADOW jumped forwards, gaining a huge level of speed which allowed him to close the distance between them in an instant. Thus, as Sun's back was facing him with his head facing downwards, the male reverse swung his Daito to the right. He also added in some Purgatory Flames onto his weapon too, in order to test out one of the theories which he and Vritra had been cooking up… but before his blade could meet the guy's flesh, Sun extended his Staff down towards the ground, stabbing it into it and then letting it's extending self to pull him higher into the air. This not only resulted in SHADOW's slash missing, but it also provided Sun with the opportunity to fall right back down on top of him after letting go of his weapon, allowing the lad to perform a Drop kick on top of SHADOW's head.

"Guh!"

A low grunt escaped the black dressed male's lips as he got sent crashing into the ground with extreme force thanks to that blow, and by the time the dust settled he had started to regain his true composure as he slowly crawled back onto his feet, Daito still in his right hand. 'Ugh… gonna have to create another opportunity to test that theory out, Vritra…' SHADOW mused, getting a grunt of agreement from his partner as he saw his opponent come right back down to the ground. With his Staff returning to its original size, Sun gave a deadpanned stare towards the black dressed male, who responded in kind…

All before the two charged at one another.

Hopping into the air, Sun helicopter spun his Staff above his head before gripping it near it's rear tip, and then bringing it down on his opponent. SHADOW blocked by raising is Daito in a horizontal position whilst placing his free hand atop the blade's back edge, providing an extra bit of stability for a couple seconds before angling the weapon to the side and going for a reverse pommel strike, one which Sun stepped back to dodge and then spun his Staff to deflect a follow-up diagonal slash from the black dressed male.

'Hmmm… something's up here, Vritra. I sensed this before too, but there's something about these two which is bugging me… I don't like it…'

**[Its Discourse, kid. If I were to give an educated guess, I would say that these two have been having a bit of a quarrelling for a long time, to the point where its negatively impacting their Synch Rate. Such things CAN happen with Synchrogears and their users, actually.]**

SHADOW never got the chance to respond to that, thanks to his golden-haired adversary. Said foe had taken the initiative and jumped forwards into a repeated series of helicopter kicks to the head, ones which SHADOW parried with his Daito before sidestepping the following overhead smack, Sun not being done there as he twirled into a baseball swing without giving his opponent a chance to counter. THIS attack succeeded in striking SHADOW in the gut, sending him sliding backwards but not much else since he'd formed various thrusters over his shoulders to use their force to keep him from going too far.

This whole exchange only lasted about 5 seconds, by the way, with both of them once again eyeing each other up like two wolves, eager to pounce upon the chance… before they charged forth once again, eager to get a clear winner in their little spat.

* * *

**Chapter End!**

**Ahhh, cliffhangers, gotta love em #evil smile#.**

**Anyways, here's the next chap for you all. Originally I wanted to have all the action in one chapter, but considering how it turned out thus far I decided to split it in two. Whilst this means this arc may continue for another couple chapters or so, it will also give me some time to properly devise certain techniques and styles that the two warriors can utilize against one another, most notably Sun since I little experience writing many staff-based users fighting before. At least compared to sword users. **

**In any case, with this being the first half of the fight, I chose to focus on what SHADOW did and how his presence changed Fine's plans for stealing Durandal. If you ask me, the fact that she had a weapon which could summon and control Noise was SEVERELY underused in this season. I could EASILY see things like THIS being possible, heck one could potentially use the Noise as a functional military force with that Staff of Solomon, so I wanted to showcase just how versatile the Staff's ability's can be when applied more creatively. Plus I wanted to showcase just how prepared SHADOW can be when situations arise, along with his creativity when applying his powers, something I believe is QUITE crucial in a battle. Like my OEG's MC Nico, having as many options as possible on the battlefield can do WONDERS for saving lives. **

**Anyways, hope you all liked the chap, and look forward to the next one, the epic climax potentially. **

**PEACE OUT! **


	18. Chapter 18 - A Golden Experience PT 2

**Chapter 18 - A Golden Experience PT2**

If there was a worst case scenario planned out for this operation, then what Genjuro had been seeing from the main monitor would likely be it.

The Monitor had to be split into three smaller screens which showed him the most important events going down at the Chemicals facility, one of them being Hibiki herself taking on the Noise and preventing them from getting close to Ryouko who stood near Durandal, with no way out thus had to remain in position. Fortunately, Hibiki's training under him had resulted in her fighting prowess becoming MUCH more prominent and developed, allowing her to fight against the Noise with ease.

Genjuro ESPECIALLY approved of her destroying the heels her Symphogear getup had for better balance.

Never had been fond of seeing women in heels fighting, though he could admit to saying that women who COULD fight in heels, had to have some SERIOUS martial skill.

All that before she performed what could only be described as a ballad of destruction against the various Noise striking at her from all angles, forcing her to keep on her toes lest she got knocked down then overwhelmed. Still, for someone who still had yet to fully control her Symphogear's power effectively, Hibiki had been doing a fairly wonderful job keeping the enemy at bay so far, but how long would she be able to hold out? That had been the question which Genjuro and the other Division 2 Members had in the backs of their minds.

Though, this scenario got rivalled by the other two as well in terms of priority, the second one showcasing the facility surroundings. Although it had been hard to see in a visual sense, scans from their satellites had shown there to be all sorts of militia hidden within dark corners of the building rooftops, with varying numbers yet all of them were focused solely on the Chemicals facility, and would likely only act up should they be able to escape the Noise successfully. Genjuro was willing to bet that they were Sniper experts too, ones who also had a hand in the death of the Defence Minister.

If that was the case, then he would be willing to bet that these guys would stop at NOTHING to get their hands on Durandal, hence why he had been coordinating a much larger task force for an eventual rescue attempt. They couldn't have put all their resources into one Convoy after all, and this time it was decided that instead of him being in a Helicopter or cooped up within the Command Room, Genjuro would lead the operation from within one of the cars. He didn't want to be someone who was known to be too shy to join in the fight himself should the need arise, especially if it was against human opponents.

That left the third screen, and also the one which a LOT of the members paid attention too…

"So, THAT's the one whose fighting SHADOW at the moment…?"

"Who the heck is he, and what is that Relic…?"

"Is it even one Relic…?"

Questions like these filled everyone's minds right now as the screen showed both SHADOW, as evident by his black coat fluttering about wildly due to his erratic, high-speed movements, along with another boy in a more… glamorous yet deadly kind of Relic (Genjuro wasn't sure if it were a Symphogear or a Synchrogear given its design, hence why he called it a Relic, something his colleagues agreed with him on), duking it out viciously just like Hibiki and the Noise. 'No, it's not like her fight at all…' Genjuro thought to himself upon further reflection. 'It's not like hers, where she's a martial artist fighting some wild thugs called Noise… these two… it's something else…' To the man, it took a while before he figured out just WHAT this fight reminded him of the more that he viewed it with the rest of Division 2 whilst their forces took their time mobilizing:

A no-holes-barred territory battle… between two alpha predators.

Something which arguably seemed all the worse thanks to this information.

* * *

SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-!

Those right there, those were the sounds of two metallic weapons furiously clashing away against one another, grinding against their adversary's forms to create sparks on more than one instance whilst their wielders repeatedly tried to get the upper hand on one another. Both SHADOW and Sun, their eyes practically GLOWING with the energies of their bestial companions, they blurred throughout their section of the battlefield, leaving a mixture of different blurry trails (black and red for SHADOW whilst golden and silverish for Sun) in their wake, making it nearly impossible to view them with a simple human eye. In fact, the more they moved, the more they generated a Dust cloud beneath their feet, their strikes having enough force to literally RIP through the air around them.

Yet, despite their downright SAVAGE duelling skills, neither fighter got ahead of the other in terms of the overall fight itself, something which constantly bugged the two males immensely as two boys filled to the brim with their own sense of pride… as well as pride amped up by male testosterone.

"Ugh, hold still so I can clobber you!"

"**You first, I insist."**

Sun growled as he swung his Staff above his head like a helicopter blade, then performed an underarching swing, sending a long, large trail of debris and dust at his opponent due to the force of the shockwave behind the swing being great enough to do so. However, SHADOW countered this by swinging his blade downwards, which released an arc of Purgatory Flames the size of a small car. The moment the two attacks collided, the latter extinguished the former all too quickly, all before shooting straight towards Sun who held out his Gourd in front of him. The flames soon made contact with it, as the Gourd's cork got pulled out and a suction force erupted from within, pulling the flames inside and sealing them within, completely harmless.

'Hah, even if he's strong, there's no getting past my Gourd…'

A smug smirk formed on the male idol's lips when he saw the flames having completely been absorbed, thinking that the attack had been pointless. Thus, he then made to glance back at their user for a bit of gloating about his pointless move… only to find him having completely vanished. His eyes widened at this as he frantically glanced about to see where he had come from… only to notice a growing shadow (pun intended) forming over his head. Looking upwards, Sun WOULD have made to strike back at the offender… only, his face lost all its colour when he saw EXACTLY what it was that was about to hit him.

"WHAT THE FU-?!"

BOOM!

Before he finished that sentence, Sun legged it by diverolling to the side out of sheer desire to not get hit, not because it would have damaged him in any way. What could have installed something like this in him, one might ask? Whelp, how about a giant, black and red futuristic-looking PILE BUNKER about to launch it's Stake at him whilst falling towards his position? Yeah, that seemed like something anyone would want to avoid, especially if the stake's size alone would have been enough to shred through any normal person's entire freaking torso.

As such, Sun's form got sent flying through the air when he miscalculated the shockwave's range, thus got propelled far further than he had intended but nevertheless he managed to stab his Staff into the ground and use it as a means of slowing his momentum. By the time that he had stopped, Sun planted both feet onto the ground whilst yanking his weapon free before looking back to where the Pile Bunker had been located, only to find SHADOW standing beside it with his sole unoccupied hand (the Pile Bunker seemed to be attached to his right arm somehow) pointing at him, Schlagen already manifested from the Purgatory Flames with a round a second away from being fired.

'Fuck!'

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

A couple rounds got fired from the large cannon-like rifle which flew at Sun at incredible speeds, and if he hadn't uncorked his Gourd in time to absorb them the blonde did NOT want to know what kind of pain they could dish out. Both weapons vanished in Purgatory Flame swirls as SHADOW switched over to his Twin swords Vertrauen and Stolz, igniting their blades in his Purgatory Flames. Wasting no time, SHADOW burst forth in a mad dash, creating an explosion of said flames from his feet to use the explosive force to propel him faster. Quickly mid flight, SHADOW twisted himself around rapidly and repeatedly, becoming a LITERAL wheel of fire that sailed towards Sun with the ferocity that a Dragon was known for.

'Tch, this isn't going to get me anywhere I'll have to absorb him entirely into my Gourd, only then can I end this tediousness and get back to helping Chris!' Sun thought, not wanting to continue this any longer than necessary… Although, part of him DID want to crush SHADOW beneath his feet for 'damaging' his 'place' at the centre of HER attention, but compared to protecting his childhood friend that grudge had been only a secondary priority. However, just as he made to uncork his Gourd again, Sun noticed something which caused him even further shock: SHADOW actually changing the target of his spinning attack and hitting the ground between them instead, resulting in a HUGE ass explosion of Purgatory Flames in front of him that cloaked SHADOW's visage from his sight. 'WHAT?!'

**[Tch, damn tricks! Sun, keep an eye out! He'll rely on sneak attacks like before!]**

A war entered his mind from his partner Wukong, although it may have arrived a few moments too late since, after feeling heat coming from the soles of his feet, Sun glanced downwards to notice black splotches appearing beneath him, causing him to curse once again in his mind as he found himself unable to react to the following in time.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOOM!

The sound of eruptions exploded into existence, filling his eardrums with their presence and resulted in Sun's senses becoming temporarily fizzled out, like a computer screen briefly morphing into a more static visage, as the eruptions sent him FLYING up into the air… where his instincts told him that their maker had been. Therefore, Sun quickly listened to them as he, after flipping himself around, swung his Staff towards the direction his instincts had told him a minute killing intent had been located… for a black gloved hand to grasp his Staff's shaft at the last second, causing Sun to go wide eyed as his gaze met the crimson, blazing one which SHADOW sported as their gazes locked together… and NOT for the romantic kind.

**"I see now… Now I get it…"**

"What are you talking about, what do you get? Is it why you apparently seem infatuated with me? Please, I know I look good, but I don't swing that way, dude."

**"... You're broken."**

"?!"

SHADOW bit back a snarl when this revelation became clear to him, the hand which he grasped Sun's staff with trembling as the blonde boy gaped at his words. To be fair, with that broken ass power of his, he should have been able to have dislodged them by now, but since he didn't it had confirmed a theory of his that had been developing since the first battle they had ever fought in. Now with that reaction, it had all but confirmed it, along with the following words that he spoke next.** "Now I get why I feel so… angry when I see you. There's very few people who can piss me off like a certain someone can… Tsubasa and now you make that cut. How… how can someone be so broken that they don't even understand their own problems? You're so broken, so busted to the point where you no longer recognize yourself, that it's freaking pathetic…"**

Now apparently done with this conversation, and likely unable to stomach looking at Sun so closely anymore, SHADOW flung his arm backwards, allowing the two to separate. The black dressed male didn't worry about anything like the landing, since he just controlled his propulsion by making varying sized eruptions from the soles of his feet till he landed gracefully on the ground below. He had been thinking about it since the two of them had first fought that night Tsubasa had nearly killed herself like an idiot, but SHADOW had been getting a strange feeling of… well, anger like he had just stated. He didn't understand why he'd felt it it at the time, but now that he had exchanged blows with him again, SHADOW had finally figured it out, utilizing a combination of his ability to read people to judge their characters, and the old saying that when two powerful fighters clash, they can understand each other's thoughts simply through an exchange of their fists.

Meanwhile, Sun himself growled in anger, genuine and murderous, after he had recovered from his shock and performed multiple backflips, landing just as gracefully as his opponent had done. However, that just served to infuriate him all the more, his fury bubbling within him like a pool of lava about to erupt from within its volcano. His form even started to glow with an ominous, golden aura… with a slight tint of light green to it, whilst his eyes gained a bright blaze that almost surpassed the sun in terms of sheer brightness, just as he burst forth to continue the fight between them, SHADOW responding in kind with his flaming Daito.

Nobody, well, aside from THAT woman had ever pissed him off this majorly in a long ass time, and generally he considered himself to be an easygoing, generous kind of dude who loved to sing for his fans. However, what this dude said to him… it struck him, it had stuck harder than any of the previous blows done to his person. Perhaps what had been said had simply been the tip of the iceberg on a whole LIST of problems that were finally starting to showcase their effects on him, but Sun could no longer stand it. Regardless of the method to this destination, those words struck some old ass things… things which he had LONG since buried and tried to forget about, to the point where Sun didn't know what they were anymore, only that they should stay LOCKED up FOREVER.

But, despite this, one thing became clear to him as he held his Staff in a helicopter spinning motion to block a flurry of fiery blasts born from the Daito's rapid thrusts, whilst the Cloud on his back thrummed dangerously.

That this guy… had become MUCH more of a threat to him than Sun could have ever thought possible.

* * *

**(Play OST - Gekisou Gungnir)**

Hard at work, harder than she had done for pretty much a lot of things in her life… THAT would describe her current status all too well, Hibiki would think to herself. If she even had the CHANCE to think by the way.

"Hah! Graaah! Hoh!"

Battle cries, grunts and roars came out of her so often now, that Hibiki Tachibana almost had to wonder if she had discarded the rest of her native language just for those sounds alone as she threw an elbow downwards, slamming it down on top of a lunging slug-like Noise's head. The resulting impact sent it crashing into the ground, turning into dust the moment that Hibiki stomped on it's head, all before she jumped into a spinning Helicopter kick that smacked another Noise, one more humanoid in shape, in the side of it's head. After this, it got knocked onto its back with Hibiki rushing over, raising a leg up high and then bringing her heel down on it's head, smashing it into nothingness and reducing the Noise to dust.

Sensing an attack coming from behind, Hibiki flipped backwards, avoiding another Slug Noise when it lunged forth with the intent to try and pin her to the ground. After avoiding it, she placed her hands atop it's form and twisted herself about in a repeated 360 rotation, which resulted in her slamming her feet into two extra slug Noise to knock them aside, before she flipped into the air and smashed her right leg onto the Noise beneath her, reducing it to carbon.

'Noise have always shown up in large numbers in the past time me and T-I mean SHADOW go up on missions together… but this is ridiculous!'

Whilst thinking this after dealing with a bunch of slug Noise, Hibiki then noticed a humanoid Noise shooting straight for the case containing Durandal whilst she hadn't been looking and had been distracted, something which had been quite a common occurrence during this entire battle. Her strategy had been as follows: fend off the Noise whilst remain within close proximity of Durandal… something which she had some trouble doing since she had been on her own to fight the Noise, any surviving help from their escorts would have been useless against the Noise and Ryouko had been a scientist, not a fighter, hence as long as she stayed within Durandal's proximity, Hibiki's job of protecting her would be made MUCH easier.

On the downside, Hibiki kept getting distracted by small groups of Noise every so often, which meant that openings for the Noise would present themselves, and they'd take EVERY one of them.

Nothing which did much good for Hibiki's annoyances, after all.

'Got you!'

In an attempt to stop the Noise from getting too close, Hibiki launched herself into the air and performed a Flying Kick, becoming quite LITERALLY a human missile that SLAMMED into the Noise with the force and impact of said WMD. This resulted in the Noise, obviously, becoming nothing but Carbon, to which Hibiki then used it's disintegrating body as a means to backflip into the air and then land on a crouch like a monkey, all before getting back on her feet and assuming a fighting stance.

Seeing as how she could still hardly make out the ground surrounding her due to the number of Noise surrounding them, Hibiki internally wanted to groan at the frustration of it all, yet kept her internal feelings to herself for the sake of the mission. 'There's just so many of them…' she thought, watching warily for any signs of aggression from her opponents. So far however, none went and made any moves in the next couple seconds, something which made Hibiki wonder just who was controlling them. 'Was it… that girl I heard Genjuro mention after that mission where Tsubasa San fell under…?'

Finally, a series of movements caught the Symphogear Wielder's attention, prompting her eyes to shift over in their direction like an animal weary of predators watching them. A second later, 2 humanoid Noise and 2 Slug ones jumped out from within the crowd assembled around them, all coming from different angles, prompting Hibiki to jump up at them and proceed to royally beat the living daylights out of them. Up in the air, Hibiki targeted the first humanoid Noise by slugging it across the face with a right hook, twirling into a roundhouse kick to catch the appendage of its partner and kicking it down into several of its buddies who tried to use this chance to get in close. One could wonder why they hadn't just swamed her all at once instead of just standing there like immmobile targets, but in hindsight if Hibiki DID take pot shots at them like that then it would eventually lead to her being seperated from Durandal long enough for it to be stolen, plus Ryouko's life could be in more danger than it was now, so that was something.

'I still don't have full control over Gungnir… If only I could call out this thing called the 'Armed Gear' that everyone's been talking about!' Hibiki thought this as she pummelled away at her opposition, still doing her best to keep on singing in order to power the Symphogear's abilities. To her, it still felt 'slightly' weird to sing during a fight, but nothing near as when it had first happened though she still found it a little uncomfortable with the Gear 'helping' her sing by manipulating her vocal chords and mouth area. Genjuro had explained that this feature had been put in every Symphogear as to help their users sing to an optimal level, so even those with less than capable voices could still sing if they managed to activate a Relic or a Symphogear themselves.

But by the time she did deal with the last of the aerial Noise…

"You're wide open, newbie!"

SLAM!

"Gah!"

A white blur sped through the air in a manner akin to how Hibiki herself had done earlier, slamming a foot into her side… or rather, she would have had Hibiki not reflexively positioned her forearm in a tucked in position in front of said attack, which turned out to be a kick. In the end, it resulted in Hibiki blocking the surprise attack, although a loud gasp of pain escaped her whilst doing so. The culprit themselves, Hibiki didn't recognize her personally, but upon seeing the white attire that she sported, she remembered when Genjuro had filled everyone in after the whole mission involving Tsubasa's coma where she'd seen an image of the user of the Nehushtan Armour as they called it. This person and that girl, they were completely identical, therefore it confirmed to her the person's identity. "Y-You…!" She struggled to say whilst in the middle of her Singing.

* * *

Meanwhile, back down below with Ryouko, the woman stared at the battling girls for a long time, wondering which of them would eventually come out on top and take the Relic for their own. What she thought right now, nobody would be able to say considering how blank faced she was, whereas if those who knew her as Ryouko had seen that expression she was making currently they would have wondered if she were an entirely different person. 'These two… their compatibilities are both similar, yet they couldn't be any more different…' she thought, her scientist mind weighting multiple possibilities and outcomes this situation could arrive at. 'For one, Hibiki's Gungnir Fragment shouldn't be able to possess enough power in order to stand toe to toe with more completed relics, yet here she is able to do so despite not being able to fully control the Symphogear. That alone warrants investigation into the strength of her 'Song' for it to be able to drag this kind of power out of it…' she thought to herself, wondering if it were due to how the Relic known as Gungnir was practically fused within her being, resulting in her being the first ever complete fusion between human and relic. A feat she hadn't ever considered possible previously.

As she pondered this information and what she was currently witnessing, the sound of rattling reached her ears and drew her attention, a gasp escaping her lips when she looked to the source and saw it was the case containing Durandal. The locking mechanism which responded to whether or not the Gear had become responsive or not, had switched from red to green, the Relic within bursting free by shooting right through it, rising up to the skies above till it reached about 200 feet. "The Durandal… is it responding?! But, to whom…?!" Ryouko exclaimed softly, yet it didn't contain the shock and the building amazement inside of her one bit.

She wasn't the only who noticed the Relic's activation, which took the form of it starting to bathe itself in a brilliant, golden glow. The wielder of the Nehushtan Armour also noticed it, a wry smirk forming on her lips after she kicked Hibiki away from her. "So, that's Durandal, huh?" she mused to herself, quickly jumping forwards through the air with her arm outstretched to reach for it. Her smirk continued to persist as she got closer and closer to the device, the device which would change everything for her, the thing that would be the best chance for her to finally, FINALLY earn HER approval…

SMASH!

"Guh!"

...Only for a certain female Symphogear wielder to smash right into her by jumping into the air, falling through it until she were close enough to her first target, and then finishing things up with a combination of front flip, and lastly a heel to the the girl's back, sending her crashing into the ground. 'Wha?! I thought I-When did she?!'

"No way will you be getting your hands on Durandal!" Hibiki declared loudly, leaving the girl gobsmacked, thus unable to consider the option of using her purple energy whips to pull Hibiki towards her and, more importantly, away from the glowing Relic. Also, was it just her, or did it's glow gert even brighter the closer the rookie Symphogear user got to it? A question like that was able to flash through the minds of the girl along with Ryouko as well… a question which soon got answered in the following moments.

RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-!

(OST end)

The sound of something being rung filled the air, dominating all sounds and causing every battle within the Chemicals facility to halt their progress. Everyone, even the duelling SHADOW and Sun, paused what they had been doing upon sensing a COLOSSAL energy surge get released from the Complete Relic known as Durandal, which turned itself into its true form whilst Hibiki landed on the ground with it, her face hidden by shadows: A golden coloured longsword, with blue as a secondary colour. Both its edges looked to be sharp enough for use, making it a double edged one, with a V shaped tip. It had a guard shaped kind of like an old fashioned, european style exterior door, with the hilt being rather ornamental in its golden appearance.

However, these features soon became the LEAST on everyone's priority lists when, after slowly raising it to the skies above, the Complete Relic erupted instantly like a brilliantly roaring lion, shooting a beam of golden light up into the skies which changed its colour, illuminating it to give the skies s brilliantly golden tinge to it. Accompanying this, came a rapidly rising powerful presence, one which pretty much dominated the scenery around it with a thick, almost throat-crushing sensation which gripped the onlookers in its vice-like grasp.

And as for Hibiki…

"Guuuh… uuurgh… GUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

When she raised her head up and let out a loud, animalistic roar that could only come from berserk maniacs, it ended up showcasing her facial features… or rather a lack of them. What is meant by this, was that Hibiki's face had become completely encased in darkness, her eyes two pools of hellish red where no pupil or iris could be seen with a similarly coloured hollow interior within her mouth. A golden aura enveloped her, swirling around her like a second skin trying to overlap with her own as the Relic, Durandal, surged with more power, it's newest wielder drawing out more and more with each passing second.

Yet, the more she saw this, the more furious that the white haired girl became, as evident by the wrathful malice in her eyes as she glared viciously towards Hibiki whilst pushing past her shock. She had even glanced behind her at the brown haired Ryouko, noticing the completely MESMERIZED, almost to the degree of yandere obsession, which only further aggravated the girl it seemed.

"D-Don't think… that you're something special in any way, you little BRAT!"

With that yell, one which carried all the rage and, dare anyone mention it desperation in it, the white haired girl aimed the Staff in her hands which she'd used to summon the Noise in the first place, and did just that by aiming at the space just behind Hibiki. In the next second, multiple Noise appeared behind her, ready to chop the young Symphogear user up into confetti under the Staff's dominion... Well, that was what the girl had hoped for anyways, as sadly life just HAD to be a cruel bitch to her… well, it wouldn't be the first time, but still.

Upon sensing danger to her presence, Hibiki's mouth twisted into a guttural snarl befitting an angry beast about to go on a blood rage after being forcibly awoken from its previous slumber. She then proceeded to twist herself around to face them, her arms practically trembling as if they were trying to hold up a brutally large boulder instead of a large sword, before… proceeding to bring it down on the white haired girl who could only stare in gobsmacked horror, sensing the sheer power behind that strike. 'That strike… there's nowhere I can dodge, cause if that hits then this place will…!' she thought, and whilst she would take this part with her to her grave, her face paled with small teardrops gathering in the corners of her eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile…

'No...NO! If that attack hits, then forget about the facility, Chris will be vapourized!' Sun's mind screamed at him when he saw the golden blade form and bear down on the white haired Chris, his eyes trembling wildly whilst his form remained frozen in place. No matter what his brain tried to do with the panic flooding his veins, not ONE of his bodyparts moved the way that he wanted them too, Sun just stood there, frozen in place by the terror within his own being. That blade, to him, looked less like a golden symbol of a sword's heroic might and more like a sinister, twisted sense of 'fate', one which would be soon claiming something irreplaceable to him. A literal golden nightmare, which to his eyes took on the form of something… evil, sick, twisted… wrong.

No…

Not this!

He couldn't allow this!

He REFUSED!

Nobody and NOTHING was going to take his friend away from him, NOBODY!

…

…

…

…

…

...

...CLACK…CLACK...CLACK...CLACK…CLACK…CLACK...CLACK...CLACK…CLACK…CLACK...CLACK...

For a moment, as Sun's eyes dilated into large, black pools of pure nothingness, time almost seemed to slow to a crawl for him. Nevermind the golden blade that had been descending slowly since the beginning, even the tiniest of insects seemed to be slower than a turtle to him. In this one moment, Sun heard nothing, he felt nothing, it almost felt like he had just lost his grip on reality… then again, who said he even had a firm grasp on reality in the first place?

Then, the next thing he knew for certain had been the sound of footsteps, louder than anything he had ever heard before, echoed throughout his surroundings, following something akin to a string finally snapping faintly within the deepest, darkest recesses of his being. They almost caused his eardrums to burst from the sheer volume and weight, a sensation which Sun hadn't felt in a VERY long time, and even as part of him wondered what the hell was going on, it almost felt like he didn't WANT to answer that question… even though, somewhere deep down, he almost felt like he had heard someone trying to call out to him. Was that even real? Or was it fake, just like this reality he had found himself in? Sun didn't know, he didn't know anything anymore. Yet, all the while Sun didn't dare to move, not when he couldn't even think straight anymore, the sight of his friend's impending demise completely dominating his mentality at the moment.

If that wasn't enough to make him question his own sanity at this moment, Sun suddenly got goosebumps, his whole form shuddering as if it were touched by an icy chill when he felt... what felt like a pair of arms wrap around his neck from behind, clutching at his right ab and left side of his abdominal region. He INSTANTLY wanted to move, to get away from those hands which gripped him tightly as if to say 'make one move and you will regret it', rendering him unable to. Yet, something deep inside of him SCREAMED not to let the owner of those hands keep him tied down for long, like they would do something that would irreversibly harm his situation, and like he had previously mentioned, Sun wouldn't be able to fix any of it…

Finally, he heard a voice, a sickly, serpentine and almost INHUMAN voice, whisper in a matching tone directly into his ear like it was RIGHT there behind him. "Tut-tut-tut… such a foolish little one, trying so hard to be what he will never truly be, all for the sake of something as lowly as companionship… worse still, is that he allows some old HAG to dictate what actions he should take. How utterly… DISGRACEFUL." The voice whispered softly, yet beneath that velvety softness there lay a disgustingly sickening sinister, twisted and mocking undertone beneath it which felt so much like the knives-stabbing-into-the-heart sensation that Sun had felt earlier when SHADOW had called him 'broken'. Even so, the voice continued, this time from his other ear. "So, what do you say now? Did this silly little game of playing 'human' work out as you wished before? Look around you, your 'foe' calls you out on your flaws like he knows you inside and out, your so-called 'companion' doesn't even give you the respect you deserve for your efforts, instead she wastes it on that forgotten 'relic of the past'. Therefore, why continue with this pointless endeavor, knowing that nothing will change? Are you willing to stop holding yourself back, now? Return to what you once were, to what you were destined to be…"

Afterwards, came the final nail in the brutally damaged coffin…

"...young EMPEROR."

… the coffin 'broke'.

* * *

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

In one moment, the golden blade from Duranfdal had been descending towards a frozen, immobile and terror-stricken Nehushtan Armour user… the second, a blur appeared before her and held his hand out, and next thing everyone knew, something happened to the golden energy blade since it pretty much got obliterated into nothingness by some unseen force.

'Wha…?'

The expression which had formed over the girl's face, it resembled the one which was considered on the internet to be the 'surprised pikachu face' as she looked up from her position on the ground, at the person who had saved her at the very last moment. At first she couldn't see them very well due to the sunlight above shadowing them from view, but seconds passed and that sunlight stopped impeding her sight, allowing her to witness some familiar… but also VERY different eyes belonging to a certain blonde haired idol she knew. "S-Sun…?" she whispered, stunned at him.

However, something about him QUICKLY became apparent that made her wonder if who had saved her was REALLY her childhood friend or not, and that had been his eyes. In contrast to his previous demeanor whenever she was around him though, he just coldly stepped away from her, only glancing at her in passing as if she were just an insect on the road. She couldn't even be mad at him for having the gall to save her like some pathetic damsel right now, not when she beheld that gaze That was the feeling she had gotten from him as he walked away, his Gear no longer on his person due to him being in a pair of simple gym pants, barefoot and a white shirt, and then changed direction towards…

Where Hibiki was currently positioned, unconscious on the ground as she lay on her side.

'Oh no, you don't!'

SHADOW, upon seeing this, ignored EVERY instinct in his body when they screamed at him to freaking RUN from Sun right now whilst he got up to immediately make to dash after his opponent, all in order to stop this guy from getting anywhere NEAR his comrade, however when Sun idly glanced at him SHADOW's eyes widened when all of a sudden, a HUGE sense of gravity overtook him as he fell to the ground facefirst, sliding across it to a halt. 'Ugh! What the hell…?! Where'd all this pressure come from?!' the male shrieked on his mind as he, once again ignoring his instincts, tried to get up after the blonde idol, however the pressure on his form quickly intensified in response, forcing him back onto the ground. 'This… this pressure…! It's just… just like when I felt… so helpless THAT time…!'

Seeing the sight of SHADOW completely immobilized, Sun made a rolling of the eyes motion at him, all before he proceeded to continue on his trek towards the unconscious Hibiki, who lay beside the now active Durandal. His footsteps created large indentations on the ground as he walked, his clothes fluttering due to some unseen force. When the golden haired idol neared the unconscious Symphogear wielder, he held his hand up as if it were the tip of a Spear, his left eye sparkling like a vibrant crimson flame. He wanted to END this thing: This thing which had caused him so much needless grief, this thing which had tried to take a possession of HIS away in the first place… this pathetic, sniveling little ANT whom he intended to END before she could EVER get the chance to do something like this again. Such a piece of garbage DARED try to take away what was his… she must REALLY like to court death, didn't she?

'Ugh... this isn't good…!' SHADOW thought, furiously gritting his teeth with crimson eyes ablaze like two pools of magma, as he continued to struggle against the oppressive weight on his back that kept him from moving all that well. Even as his body erupted into Purgatory Flames which began to 'fight back' against the oppression, he still couldn;t help but feel that they weren't working fast enough to counter this, but who could blame him? Things weren't going according to their plans, that was for sure, first Durandal apparently activated from out of nowhere, and now somehow his opponent had just pulled a whole 180 in terms of personality and demeanor as if he had some sort of schizophrenia… though, if he really WAS similar to him in terms of the Gear they use, then perhaps SHADOW could be like that too? No, focus, SHADOW, focus! Even under this state, the black dressed teen could hear the sounds of Sun's footsteps as he neared his companion, and SHADOW didn't have to be a genius to figure out what this 'new' Sun intended to do with Hibiki whilst she was unconscious, and it will NOT end well for her. Heck, he had supporting proof of this to be the case when he had briefly seen the look in his eyes when they had briefly locked gazes.

Those eyes… SHADOW gave an involuntary shudder when he recalled them, remembering their gaze as if they were two long, sharp daggers that pierced into his soul. Those eyes had NOT been the same eyes of the enemy that he faced before. No, these eyes were nothing but cold, empty and uncaring freaking voids, as if looking down on something that didn't count as even an insect on the railside. They held no humanity in them, as if Sun wasn't even human anymore. But, more than that SHADOW had also noticed that, somehow, those eyes 'fit' Sun better, as if this was the first time that he had managed to see behind Sun's mask, if even for a brief moment.

But… the thought that once again, he would be rendered helpless… unable to do ANYTHING to protect what he valued… it reminded him once again of THAT time… a time which had caused him no small amount of hardship, even if he was used to it…

Flashes of someone appeared in his mind, SHADOW couldn't tell who by the features they had, but he didn't need to. He just knew, based on the gut feeling that he had…

A flash of determination occurred behind his crimson eyes, setting his very SOUL ablaze as his struggling reached a new level of might, his Purgatory Flames increasing in their intensity as if to respond to the surging vengeful emotions searing through his chest. His palms slammed into the ground next to both sides of his head as he slowly, but surely, forced himself upwards. Sensing him fighting back so ruthlessly, the gravity intensified once again to try and keep him down, however SHADOW refused to let that stop him. He absolutely REFUSED to do something like that, for multiple reasons:

He had to get up…

He had to get up and ensure Hibiki's survival…

He had to beat that asshole Sun… before he would make the biggest mistake of his very life…

No matter the reasons…

He had…

TO GET UP!

**"Grrrrrr…Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"**

At last, the Purgatory Flames finally succeeded in their tasks of thwarting the pressure that had been keeping him mobile, allowing SHADOW to get onto his feet once more although he still stumbled slightly. Knowing that this would be classified as a state of emergency, and seeing that Sun was almost at his fallen comrade's position, it made SHADOW decide now would be the best time to summon forth his Dragon-shaped Phantom, the first time he had used this ability in a while since Kamoshida's Palace. The fiery Dragon that remained as large as it had been back then manifested after Purgatory Flames ROARED to life around him, allowing it to split itself and form into a separate being.

With a loud roar echoing from its fiery snout, the dragon's beady eyes focused on SHADOW's opponent who, after sensing the heat and 'presence' it had generated... simple paused for a couple seconds before moving on with his intentions for Hibiki like the beast wasn't even worth noticing, much to SHADOW and the beast's irritation. As such, SHADOW burst forth in a speedy dash like a human bullet, surrounding himself with his Purgatory Flames whilst his Dragon Phantom performed a similar action, rearing it's right claw backwards for a straight piercing strike towards it's wielder's prey. It's arm even released a constant stream of flames from its elbow like it were an engine thruster, empowering the thrusting force behind the following strike.

**"GRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"**

Even as the Dragon Phantom above him roared with a wrathful undertone akin to many thousands of vengeful souls about to finally settle a long overdue score, it's wielder's gaze surpassed it in intensity as he summoned his Pile Bunker onto his right arm, intending to use its thrusting power in order to punch a hole through this asshat's gut. Nothing else mattered to the male right now, no, more than that SHADOW didn't dare to hold back any of his power anymore, for this one strike would be intended to be the strike that would incinerate the enemy as quickly as possible. He didn't care WHAT Sun had become anymore, nothing would endanger Hibiki Tachibana whilst he was around! Anyone who tried would have to face the wrath of an angry DRAGON! With the flames surging around him, SHADOW believed that, now, Sun would HAVE to switch his focus on him instead of someone who couldn't fight back.

...

...

...

...

...

… THWAMP!

...Yet, as SHADOW and his Dragon Phantom neared his target, Sun just raised one hand, causing SHADOW's eyes to glimmer in excitement knowing that his flames combined with his Pile Bunker would SMASH right into his punk-ass face. Thus, from that movement SHADOW did not stop, going with all strength he attacked Sun with a straight thrust from his Pile Bunker, only for Sun's hand to not even be moved one bite by that strike. If anything, when the Pile Bunker's tip hit Sun's hand, he could sense that Sun's hand hadn't moved one bit... almost as if his power wasn't enough even for a warm up.

'Wha…?!'

Shock running through his system, SHADOW glanced upwards at Sun's face, resulting in their eyes meeting, one wide and the other completely blank, without any form of expression. There had been nothing in those eyes, not even a single sense nor trace of ANY humanity in them... and since they said that the eyes were like windows to the soul, then that said SO much to him at this moment. It was like looking at one of those statues one can see within temples, an air as if you were not worthy of even gazing at him.

And yet, the moment their eyes locked, SHADOW immediately understood something: that the 'Sun' he had seen until now, all of it has simply been one big 'act'. A Fake, a façade whatever one wanted to call it as. All this time, he must have been a monster acting as if he WERE human, acting as if he had emotions, because for the one before him there were none of those.

Yet, as SHADOW realized this, the 'Sun' before him proceeded to glance up and down his form, before he proceeded to speak in a tone not unlike his whenever he activated his Synchrogear. **"... I see. So it seems that amusing little snake found itself a host. Very well, as a reward for you by showing me something amusing, snake, I will not kill your host. However, that is as far as my kindness goes." **As 'Sun' said that he put his hand over at Tai's stomach

When he did this action, what could only be described as an explosion got triggered between him and SHADOW, pretty much blowing him completely away. His Pile Bunker had gotten blown to bits with nothing remaining whilst his Dragon Phantom howled in absolute pain and agony as it dispersed into nothingness, unable to maintain its form in the physical world any longer, much to SHADOW's shock and building horror. 'No... our combined assault... it didn't even faze him!' The teen realized as he got rocketed away from there, his body going through several of the still erect towers of the Chemicals Facility and firmly being embedded into a tower far away. Needless to say, the amount of force, impact and the damage he had taken all at once became hard enough to render him unconscious, by the way with his Synchrogear vanishing to reveal his human self for all to see.

His last thought besides the horror that his form had disengaged, had been the following: 'What the heck... what the heck is this guy...?'

With SHADOW, or rather Tai this point, knocked out Sun idly glanced his way for a moment, before turning to the ground where he saw the offense, the one who almost ruined everything. EVERYTHING! The young Hibiki Tachibana, still unconscious and still completely vulnerable to his attack. 'Sun' could not forgive her, thus once he now stood over the fallen girl's position, he positioned himself to strike. However, just before he could bring his hand down and spear her right through the heart...

WHAM!

**"?!"**

A surprised grunt escaped him when something slammed into him on the side and sent him away from the girl. It didn't even faze him, nor did it inflict any lasting pain, but the strike's impact DID end up sending him sliding along the ground about 4 meters from his previous target. Turning to look u[on the source of the attack, he saw his white haired companion standing there, looking at him in confusion whilst holding the Whips of the Nehushtan Armour. Obviously, those had been what she had used to attack him, but that soon became the least thing he prioritized as the white haired girl spoke.

"Sun, what is going on? You, you were going to kill her. You do not kill, EVER! What are you doing?" As Chris asked that Sun's expression began to change, as if he wanted to speak but his mouth was not working properly, his soul was moving and trying to reach out for something but it was not right. Nothing was right. He could not understand, he could not comprehend what was happening.

As a single tear could be seen flowing down one of his eyes things changed again.

"Alright now, I think that's enough... my pet."

All of a sudden, a silky, sultry and seductive womanly voice spoke to him from his right ear, causing his eyes to widen in slight surprise. To him, that voice seemed eerily familiar, and something within him churned in sheer revulsion because of it. However, before he could ponder on it any further, a clicking of a button got heard by his ears, before he gasped as an electric shock, a HUGE one surged inside of his system. MILLIONS of volts got released into him all at once, causing him to howl in pain as he stumbled about, holding the sides of his head as if there were multiple things threatening to split him apart. Eventually however, this came to a conclusion when, after jerking his head upwards, one could see the fire in his eyes recede from them like a banana peeling itself away, as he fell to the floor, out cold.

Standing before him, all sorts of questions rung through Chris's head, too many to be delved into at the moment which had partially been to do with the whole situation shocking and confusing her to the core. What the hell happened? THAT one however, managed to reign over the rest whilst she glanced about, soon taking noticed of the Durandal Relic. Just as she made to get it however...

"Leave it be, taking Sun back to our little residence is more important than that. Quick, before he wakes." a voice spoke to her from an in-built communicator and Chris, without hesitation, did as told. Grabbing Sun like a fireman would when rescuing a victim, she quickly hightailed it out of there, with all sorts of things in her mind resulting in nothing but pure, unadulterated chaos.

* * *

"Whew... now THAT was a close one..."

Ryouko heaved a heavy sigh as she stood where Sun had once lay. However, even though she looked calm on the outside, INSIDE would be a completely different story since what she had seen today disturbed her on more than a FEW levels. It had been all she could do not to break character right then and there in order to start biting her nails in disturbed frustration, for this event did NOT bode well... for multiple reasons. 'Those fools, how had they failed to see THAT inside the boy? That THING... if it were to completely awaken, then I cannot even begin to imagine what will follow...' Ryouko thought, frowning slightly whilst behind her curious gaze, would lay the conflicting emotions of a warlord hearing that an alliance had been made against him by every other Warlord in his surroundings. 'This has to be dealt with immediately. I must be quick, I cannot let that thing to awaken fully otherwise, otherwise...'

Trembling a bit, having recognized just what was inside Sun, the doctor decided she had to hurry up with her objective. And she especially feared if 'they' sensed THAT existence, she was not ready at all to deal with them and she'd rather never have to. She knew just how troublesome they were, and over the years of living she had, Ryouko had seen them only a few times... yet to her, those were a few times too much. 'If they move, should I give them Sun without protest or should I kill him before that? What to do, what to do?' Moving forward Ryuku, also knows as Fine, went to check on Hibiki and the relic. It was not ideal, but she would have to see what was going on with Sun and try and figure out a way to seal THAT thing as tightly as she possibly can. Killing him might work, but if THEY sensed him and they found out that she killed Sun, well, she imagined that the Asian continent might get a new name then.

Vacant Space.

Taking a pause in eyeing this 'specimen' before her, Ryouko glanced over to Hibiki and the fallen Durandal, the Noise having pretty much vanished thanks to their leader having retreated when given the 'signal' earlier. Upon seeing her, Ryouko heaved a few sighs to get herself back in order. She had to calm down right now, as all those problems could be dealt with in time, but they couldn't be done with until\she had a proper control over herself. The best way for her to calm down however, would be what she did best: science, and right now she had two potential specimens to examine.

Thus, she did just that.

Gazing down at the unconscious Hibiki, this human/relic hybrid down there REALLY piqued her interest, and with this battle she had managed to gather some significant battle data on her Phone for... research purposes in the near future. She couldn't believe what she had seen, someone whom had managed to induce so much Phonic Gain that it had matched more than a concert's worth of people, thus being able to activate a Complete Relic without any prior preparation... The possibilities and theories that could be dug up by her on HOW this came to be, thanks to this event, pretty much made her all too happy to be a scientist. 'Not to mention, should THEY come into the picture, if I can recreate her apparent state for myself, and maybe some other future pawns, perhaps I can at least save SOME of the continent from destruction... oh, who am I kidding? THEY are monsters in ways I cannot even begin to imagine, so it would be best if this incident was swept under their radar as quick as possible...'

Finally, the third person in this little trio of specimens...

...Oh my.

Remembering the third person who'd been involved in all this, Ryouko did a glance over at the sole other male of the trio embedded in the tower a fair distance away, SHADOW, whom had caught her interest, and upon doing so she finally, FINALLY caught sight of the person underneath the Mask. 'Ahhhhh, so THIS is your human face, eh? My, you're a lot cuter than I had initially expected, young boy... if you were a few years older...' Upon seeing SHADOW's human form for the first time, Ryouko made a note to look him up for more information, to study his background and files so she could now FINALLY plan around his potential threats to her plans... whilst also gaining some delicious eye candy.

Hibiki was just a cute little thing to be sure, and little Chris had been an adorable little puppy for a while too, but seeing this manly specimen made her think of the 'pretty boy' type of person, and from what she had seen of his personality she believed that he had some... strong ties to young Tachibana too. 'My, Hibiki doesn't realize the catch she has with this one, does she...?'

Shaking her head, Ryouko decided to do some damage control instead of fawning over her new research projects and worrying about a potential new enemy. There was going to be MUCH work to do in the near future, plans had to be drafted up with this new information, and research needed to be conducted. This little event had brought MANY details to light that Ryouko felt like just DYING to figure out for herself... as well as use to her advantage for her plans.

Ufufufufufufufu…

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Hey guys, sorry for the lateness of this chapter, I had stuff going on over at my end. But regardless, now I've managed to finish this climax of a chapter, so one more 'aftermath' kind of chapter and we should be done with this small arc. And BOY was there going to be some revelations this one, a small peak at Sun's true nature, someone moving behind the shadows, and an enemy that even Ryouko herself fears. If Chris didn't start her rebellious phase before, then right now should DEFINITELY give her a hard wakeup call to what is REALLY going on here. **

**Plus, as you all saw, as much as Tai/SHADOW tried to go at Sun when he was in this state, he couldn't even do a damn THING to him. Not even a scratch on him, which results in this fight being his loss. A full, complete and utter LOSS... as well as a MAJOR wakeup call for him, as he will need to start getting stronger by training with Vritra's powers in order to not let this happen again. For someone like him, to be swatted away like a fly such as in this chapter, one can only IMAGINE how he would take it. Originally, this chapter had ended a bit differently, but in the end one of my fellow writers suggested this way instead and, upon thinking about it, I decided to do it this way since, thanks to this, it also fits more with Tai's core characteristics. Don't worry, by the first season's end, it'll be explained. **

**Hope you liked the chapter, look forward to the aftermath chapter where I can tie these plot threads up and give at least enough info to tide you readers over till I can focus on those threads specifically. I'm REALLY going to enjoy writing this fic in the future... hehehehe**

**Peace Out!**


	19. Chapter 19 - The Golden Aftermath

**Chapter 19 - Golden Aftermath**

For the first time in a long while… things for once, didn't revolve around the 'mother' of the trio within the young Chris's mind. For once, she had slammed the breaks on her little 'obsession' as if to suddenly come to her senses and realize something SERIOUSLY wrong had just happened, something big enough to warrant a major popndering on.

What was that issue, one might ask? Whelp she currently had a BIG issue in her mind right now which was centered around her currently unconscious childhood friend, Sun. Said childhood friend lay on an examination table within one of the Mansion's multiple Laboratories, with her standing beside him like a warden looking over her charge. Something which Chris SHOULD have been okay with since it had been the 'mother's idea to put him there… but, if so, then why did she have such contradictory feelings in her chest? She wondered whilst whilst placing a hand over her chest whilst looking at the closed eyes that hid away the eyes of her childhood friend… the eyes which, previously, had turned into something so… alien, so unrecognizeable, that Chris honestly couldn't help but shudder in sheer terror thinking about it.

BRRRRRRR!

More shudders ran down the back of her spine with no signs of stopping nor slowing down, as Chris gritted her teeth whilst rubbing her biceps. Below her, Sun's unresponsive form, which also lay strapped to all kinds of equipment which she didn't even realize existed up till this point, remained unaware of. Yet, despite the scorn she aimed at herself for feeling this way since it reminded her of… past events, Chris just couldn't help but feeling the exact same amount of terror, perhaps even more so, when she remembered what she had seen that day.

Those eyes…

Those DAMN eyes...

Just the sheer MEMORY of those eyes remained in her mind ever since she had been forced to retreat from the Chemicals Facility, foresaking Durandal which had been the reason why she and Sun had been there in the first place. Those greenish orbs, supplimented by that crimson flame over one of them, bore down on her within the back of her mind, leering down upon her with that emotionless, blank gaze like she wasn't even worth looking down on. Such a tiny little stain that it was hardlly worth acknowledging, like a small, dull grey mark on an otherwise flawless piece of cloth… which only servied to further aggrivate the girl along with confused the living hell out of her as she stared down at Sun's unconscious form.

What the hell was that just now?

Was that… really even Sun, at all?

Who was the childhood friend whom she had only recently reunited with?

WHAT was he? Some kind of monster…?

So many thoughts swirled around her mind, questions which she wanted answers to but the 'mother' of the trio wouldn't tell her anything beyond 'do not even THINK about it if she wanted to live past this existence'. At first Chris had thought that she was being looking down on, and to an extent she felt like she was, but the gaze which the mother had looked at her with… there had been something else behind it, something which she had NEVER seen on the woman before: fear.

She seemed AFRAID of whatever had happened to Sun back there…

Which only made her own anxiety and confusion all the worse.

"GRUMBLE, GRUMBLE, GRUMBLE…"

Just then, Chris almost jumped when she heard strained grumbling sounds from her friend, who soon began to awaken, due to the way his eyes tightened themselves with grimaces escaping his lips. The boy shuffled and twisted as if in discomfort, although this didn't last all that long when his eyes finally opened, blinking several times in order to adjust to the sudden light that his irises (which had returned to their 'original' state, much to Chris's internal delight… though she didn't like the fact that she felt that way about them) had to receive from the lamp on the Laboratory's ceiling. "Ugh… did someone get the license number of that truck…?" He muttered, closing his eyes again with a slight hiss, grasping his head whilst getting into a sitting position.

"S-Sun?!"

Chris made that startled exclamation whilst taking a step back from him, her eyes wide in shock at the fact that the boy had awoken so quickly. Their 'mother' had told her she'd predicted that it would take him a while longer, at least a week (it had only been a couple days since the incident)!

Upon hearing her voice, Sun turned his head to her and saw her features, to which if he had any reaction to it he didn't show much or outright ignored it as he gave a beaming smile to her. "Hey there, Chris!" He exclaimed, hopping off the table like there was nothing important about sitting on it. "How'd the mission go? Did you get the Relic like we were tasked for?" He questioned her, using that same dopey smile that she had come to expect from him ever since their reunion…

Though, that did NOT diminish the memory of what she had seen that day one bit, something which disgusted Chris as she gave a 'tch!' and turned her head to the side. "Of course, not!" she responded heatedly, much to Sun's surprise. "Fine told me to tell you that we failed the mission, since the Relic got activated right in front of us, and the Division 2 guys managed to get to it first." she explained, though she didn't mention anything about who activated it… nor anything else. Not only did she not WANT to cause aside from everything else it felt like openig another can of worms she didn't want to acknowledge at the moment, but 'Fine', their mother, had told her not to talk about it if she wanted to continue living, with the prior explained facial reactions.

"...Huh, I see." Sun responded simply, looking like he had begun deeply thinking about the encounter with the way he took on a posture similar to a detective in one of those mystery novels she had once read. He'd pulled it off quite well, though she wouldn't tell him that since it would inflate his massive ego. Though, ir only lasted for a couple seconds until Sun bounced back wit his previous cheery optimism. "Oh well, you win some you lose some." he declared, giving her a thumbs up and playefully winking at her. "We'll be able to get another shot at it, remember what the ol' saying is? Third times the charm."

"We've tried only ONCE to get the Relic, you idiot!"

"We DID try that one mission before that, right? We can just count this as our second failure after that one!"

"Urgh! You're so annoying!"

Finally done with everything, Chris turned on her heels and stormed off with her heels making loud clacking sounds, leaving her childhood friend alone in the room. Inside her mind, Chris kept seething with her thoughts running around a million miles an hour whilst steam literlly started coming otu of her ears. As much as she destested that insufferable, idiotic demeanour he usualy had around her since it didn't fit people like them in her mind, Chris believed that the guy had just been playing with her just then. Used their regular interactions do dodge any chance for her to ask him more about what had gone on back there. She just had that suspicion about him, and usually her gut instincts didn't really lead her astray, which only made her all the more furious about the situation. That girl who could use a complete relic so easily whilst Chris herself had to go through intense training aside, her childhood friend now had THIS on top of him in addition to his apparent ability to use such a powerful Gear. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair goddamnit!

What the hell was going on anymore?! Why was all this happening NOW of all times, when they were SO close to achieving what they desired?!

Worse still, this just showed her at last, that there was something bigger going on here, something which she hadn't even realized even EXISTED up until this point, and it had only taken her to face something that her supposed 'friend' had been keeping from her this whole time, something she REFUSED to let stay hidden any longer. It would seem that she may not have known as much about Sun as she had thought, which made her question on whether or not she really 'knew' him at all. Chris couldn't let this go though, and as such she would investigate this herself, since nobody would be willing to tell her the answers she wanted to know so badly.

Meanwhile, back with Sun as the doors to the Lab room closed behind his furious friend, their complete closure became a signal for him to drop the act. In that instance, his eyes turned cold and indifferent, looking as if everything in this world was bellow him.

'That was close, I dropped the act for a moment too long back then. I must have gotten soft after going easy for so long.'

As Sun thought this his mind started working, in his mind thousands upon thousands of possible scenarios quickly flashed by, theories over what he could have done and what he should have done, considering every possible angle and what the optimal path should have been.

His mind working faster and better than any human should be able to do, better than most computers even as he began analyzing everything and upon reaching a conclusion boredom emerged.

That detestable emotion, the understanding regarding every single aspect of every thing, completely negating every possible variable and seeing through every possible future of that moment. He was already certain regarding what he should have done and about what he should do moving forward, knowing every step of the way and already knowing what the future would be like until unknown variables emerged, but even those are mostly taken into account already.

Now all that was left was the boredom, the complete understanding of what will happen and not feeling anything regarding any of it. Sun then raised from the bed, wondering about what he should do next.

'Perhaps I should not lower my mind for a while now.' he thought as he decided to not take those medicines for now. He was still in doubt over what reason was there for the medicines stopping working since those unique powers emerged but he was not worried about it, in his mind he could barely sense the source of that energy and in time he would be able to make it his own.

Not taking the medicine would be hard on him, he knew that, but he needed to actually think now. He could not keep using the medicine he designed to keep his mind numb, he would just have to do a better job as an actor if he is to keep convincing Chris that the one she knew was not a fake.

Deep inside he wish he never had to lie to her, to be dishonest about just who he is, but if he was himself she would never like him. No one could ever love him if he were to be honest.

Humans fear what is above them, Sun understood that perfectly well, and he was above them. His mind was above all of them, his body was above all of them, he was beyond all humans in this world. How could others possibly understand him or him understand the limitations of others?

It was only music, only Chris, that allowed him to first experience what it was to be human. To not be alone in a peak that no one could ever approach, that none could even see in the distance. That is why the drugs were important, but to preserve that first time, to save Chris, he would abstain from them for a while at least.

Oblivious (or perhaps 'ignoring' would be the better word here) to the disgusted snort within the back of his mind.

**'Foolish. How could an Emperor be the same as the bugs on the ground? To pretend otherwise is just avoiding the inevitable, your destiny, the true king of humanity.'**

* * *

"That summarizes the report, Genjuro sir."

"Thank you, Sakuta. Return to your post, and keep me informed of any changes."

"Yes, sir."

The said staff member lowered his head in respect towards his superior, before proceeding to walk away from the Commander and back to his original post, intending on continuing the tasks given to him.

Meanwhile, Genjuro himself heaved a sigh as he held the bridge of his nose, looking like he had been drained of the majority of his vitality at the moment with everything being in the mess that it was. Not only were their most capable members down temporarily, with Hibiki in their recovery facility unconscious and SHADOW having been carried off somewhere by his own powers, according to the reports anyways (they'd mentioned something about black flames cocooning him then shooting off into the skies and then away or something), but then there was the REST of the mess this whole incident had brought onto them.

Aside from them being temporarily unable to hunt down any Noise which could appear at any time, since they lacked the proper means to fight them now, a whole load of unrest had begun to rise within the higher ups in the political chain thanks to Defence Minister Hiroki's death. Politicians were pretty much acting like rats over food scraps, scrambling to seize the ultimate prize that was the total control over Division 2's operations within Japan. Not many of them shared in Hiroki's ideals about their value to the Japanese economy after all, and if one were to ask him, then the odds that they would get someone who thought of them as useless pests was... about 9 out of 10. This meant that, at least within Japanese borders since Noise appearances tended to happen across the globe meaning that they'd need at least SOME degree of operational freedom, they would have to keep themselves on a tight leash and only 'bark' like dogs when their 'master' told them to, not something which Genjuro found himself looking forward to, but he didn't have much of a say in the matter at this point. If one were to try and ask him, like a few of his colleagues had done when expressing their worries about their imminent future, Genjuro would say that he had a few ideas on who could potentially take control over their operations in the future, but nothing certain as of yet, plus there was also the Election for Prime Minister being an upcoming event, so many candidates were going to be preparing for that…

Even with what had been happening over the last few years.

'Then, there's what happened with Hibiki, SHADOW and that other kid…'

Genjuro scowled when he remembered how Hibiki had come to be in her current state, how she managed to not only activate a Complete Relic, but from what he had seen seemingly done so with only her own song. As if it had resonated so much that it's Phonic Gain had been worth that of an entire audience. How the heck that was possible wasn't something which lay in Genjuro's field of expertise, and as such he hoped that the one whose specialty this DID fall under, Ryouko, could provide some form of explanation once things settled down. The matter of SHADOW wasn't as major, since he believed that the man would have ways of recovering from this battle, especially with how he managed to deal with the whole Kanade situation…

But then, THEN came the problem involving that golden haired kid.

If there was one thing Genjuro could consider him, then anomaly would be the right word for it. Looking him up on the records, Genjuro had found that his public name had been the Golden Sun idol whom, during the time of Zwei Wing, had been a fierce contender of theirs. Apparently, he had been quite active during the last few years, becoming an existence in the idol industry that seemed to almost be like the second coming of Tsubasa and Kanade. Many people were fans of his, and it seemed like he had been doing quite well for himself with how much people had loved his works. Recently however, he had practically gone off the grid after his last performance in Kyoto several months ago, with nobody being aware of where he had gone.

Though, right now Ganjuro had found the answer to THAT question, and he did NOT like what he found. Apparently, he seemed to be allies with the user of the Nehushtan Armour, from what had been recorded since he had helped her get close to the Relic by distracting SHADOW. That alone didn't promise anything good since his Gear seemed to be… well, it seemed to be just as strange as the rest of his backstory. From what he had seen it seemed to operate in a manner similar to the Synchrogear, but then there were times when he seemed to want to try singing but stopped himself, according to careful analysis of his lip movements, which implied that singing also was a weapon in his arsenal, just like a Symphogear. A confusing thing to be sure, and one which Genjuro remained both skeptical as well as suspicious about, especially with how him and SHADOW seemed to have known one another judging by their recorded interactions.

Also, just like the wielder of the Nehushtan Armour, Genjuro had tried to investigate them by cross referencing what he could of their facial features, coming up with little information on the former, and nothing on the latter, which both perplexed and worried the man at the same time. There had been practically nothing of his earlier records before entering the idol industry, almost like they had been wiped off the face of the earth for some reason, whilst the boy himself seemed to have a strong sense of keeping secrets according to interviews with his managers and colleagues in the idol industry.

Part of him wondered if someone deliberately wiped away records of him to try and conceal something about him. What that was, he didn't know…

But judging from how he acted at the end there, did he even want to know?

* * *

"Ugh… fwoo...grgh…"

Sweat rolled down the forehead of one Tai as he resided within the warm comforts provided by his room, currently busy immersing himself in a pushup routine whilst relishing in the burn he felt throughout his equally sweaty body. Rugged breaths escaped his mouth every time he completed a pushup, only for him to inhale and repeat the process like a never-ending cycle. The sweat rolled down the sides of his head, causing his hair to become damp and a thick smell to permeate throughout the room like a faint miasma. It wasn't something Tai was unfamiliar with though, not with the double life that he currently led.

The boy had stripped all of his upper body clothing, cladding himself in a pair of baggy jogging pants to expose his body to the scenery around him, also exposing the chiseled, thoroughly trained warrior body that he had been developing over the last couple of years, something which his clothes usually hid away… kind of like a Mask, actually. As to the reason WHY he had immersed himself in exercises…

Training.

Simply put, training.

For a more in-depth explanation, it had to do with the events that had transpired in the Chemicals Facility a couple days ago, to be more precise the events that had transpired around one particular individual.

'That day, there's no dancing around the issue at large…'

The appearance of the blonde haired boy clad in his Gear, flashed through his mind, causing Tai to grit his teeth as he almost lost his rhythm, but managed to retain it. It hadn't been the first time his mind had wandered over to these thoughts, in fact one could say that had been all he had been able to think about for the last few days. He'd tried to act normal during the school hours since then, his body having healed up nicely from that one strike thanks to his Synchrogear's Omnimatter, but he felt sure that he hadn't been performing at his usual level. The teen had to bet that Chad had already noticed something had been up, but like a total bro the large dude didn't say anything about it for the time being, knowing just how well Tai could handle himself and any issues that came his way.

Still, this issue may have become one of the hardest to bounce back from yet, almost as hard as… that time when he'd failed to save that Shiho character back on the School Roof. An issue revolving around a certain individual who had utterly WRECKED Tai during that battle in every way possible, crushing the pride and confidence in his ability that he had developed through multiple years worth of intense training. At first, he had refused to admit it, he had even tried to forget about it and move on, but quickly had that notion beaten out of him by the scolding Vritra had given him when he had first regained consciousness, resulting in him confirming the bitter-tasting truth with no small amount of defeat.

He had lost.

Tai had completely, utterly LOST against Golden Sun.

There were no ifs or buts about it, that fact would not change no matter how hard one thought on it. It had been a hard pill to swallow, one which Vritra had all but forced him into doing so. Initially, Tai had believed that things had been quite even between the two since they traded blows without any clear sign of ground being lost. Their weapons had seemed to have been quite even at the time, although Tai hadn't had the chance to try out any of the tricks he'd devised with Vritra against him.

Perhaps if he had… no, that likely wouldn't have changed the result, if anything it would have likely just made it occur quicker.

Ever since the whole incident with Kamoshida/Asmodeus, Tai had plenty of confidence in his abilities, certainty that there would only be a few things here which could match the might that he had amassed throughout the years he'd been a Synchrogear wielder. Perhaps… perhaps that had something to do with why this defeat had hit him so hard as well, not just the fact that someone else whom he'd previously looked down on for his hypocrisy had utterly wrecked his ass today. He felt like someone who'd gotten comfortable on their stool being suddenly knocked over by some asshole wanting a quick laugh at his expense…

Was he angry? Yeah.

Did he feel humiliated? Hell yeah.

Would he let that stop him from continuing on? Fuck to the no!

'Tch, so what? It's just one battle, one of the many pebbles across the path known as life. It's just one that caused me to stumble…' Tai thought as he finished his pushups and switched to a different exercise, sit ups. He'd pull out about 30 laps around his house after this too, then take a small break before going on to the next part of his training. 'It's not that big of a deal, I mean this isn't the first time I've slipped up like. It's just like what Sylvester Stallone said: The world isn't all sunshine and rainbows, it's actually a very mean and nasty place that, no matter how tough one is, it will beat them down and keep them there if they let it. Nothing's going to. Nobody, nobody was going to hit harder than life, but that doesn't matter. It's not about how hard one is hit, it's about how hard one can get hit and keep moving forwards, how much they can take whilst keeping on pressing forwards. That's how winning was done.'

Almost instantly after that, Tai's anger started to abate, being gradually replaced with fond nostalgia whilst he kept his pushup routine going. His eyes glimmered whilst his forehead glistened from the sweat on him, a fond and happy smile forming on his lips. One might wonder why Tai started acting like this, but he wouldn't give them that answer… at least the complete one, unless he had absolute trust in them. Someone who had become as important to him as Chad and Hibiki had.

Sylvester Stallone… someone who Tai personally took a great shine to, one could actually call him the boy's idol. An American actor who'd become one of the biggest box office draws for over 20 years, widely considered as a global icon. Despite being an easterner, Tai personally admired that man and his story, of how despite the complications of his birth the man had gone on to being one of the most well-known actors in the American film world. At one point in time he had even been facing a decline in his successes and took a break from his work, only to come back swinging and return to the spotlight, something which both awed and inspired Tai beyond belief. In the end, the life of Sylvester Stallone had taught Tai a valuable life lesson, that even someone who came from a common background could make it in life.

Something which stuck to his being like glue.

**[Hmph, the saying 'talking is cheap' is also true, boy.]**

Whilst he had been in the middle of a sit-up, Tai's eyes briefly shrunk before returning to normal, having heard the voice of his Synchrogear beast speak to him for the first time today, the current time being about mid afternoon. Although, Tai had to wince from the disgruntled, cross tone which he had used with him which the Evil Dragon had every right to have.

Of course Dragons seem to hold grudges, why wouldn't they? But seriously, it shouldn't have been as surprising to him as it had been that Vrita had been furious with him once they could communicate again, but when one considered how close they had come to death back in that Chemical's Facility, then Vritra's fury with him would be WAY more justified. Even more so when one considered how he had tried to warn Tai to get out of there and flee, but he had been ignored which had REALLY wounded the dragon's pride. Heck, Tai had felt like something had restrained his heart a little more than it used to when he'd woke up, to which he'd quickly figured out the reason why himself, in fact it honestly didn't really take him that long to do so.

See, it all had to do with the Synchro Rates. The way the Synchrogears were designed, was that one had to earn the trust of the beast inside of it in order to draw out power to fight with, as Vritra had explained to him during the Kamoshida incident. The more that the beast trusted a wielder, and depending on that creature one's Synchro Rate rising could be from turtle speed slow to cheetah fast, the greater the Synchro Rate which in turn allowed the user to fight with more power, not to mention more effectiveness. Everything around the Synchrogears revolved around building up trust and bonding with the beast inside, which could be considered as easier said than done, just look at history where monsters were usually slain by the 'valiant heroes'. Just how much of that was actually true and not just human propaganda to stroke their own arrogant egos?

However, when one says that Synchrogear users are powered by trust, it can also serve as their WEAKNESS as well, since whilst its so difficult to cultivate trust with them it was also EASY as fuck to lose that trust. It's like building a house of straw, although it's not easy building them up, it's SO easy for the forces of nature to destroy them. As such, should the beat inside lose trust in their wielders they will lose a percentage of their Synchro Rates which was accompanied by the sensation of tightening chains around their hearts.

In Tai's case, whereas he had been within the 80% mark before, now he had fallen down to just above the 50% mark. A SHARP decrease in power and effectiveness, hence why he had begun to train his ass off like this. Vritra always liked it when one took their training seriously, since it meant that they knew the value of living and that they could die to any number of things… although, Tai internally knew that it wasn't to regain Vritra's trust that he was doing this, not completely.

His own revenge against Sun had been part of it.

'Yeah… you're right, Vritra…' The black haired male replied meekly, frowning in self-loathing which spurred him on to continue his training regimen. This couldn't be allowed to continue, the male felt whilst trying to immerse himself in the burn that came from exercising his muscles. His fighting ability had been weakened thanks to this failure, a failure all of his own doing, which was unacceptable so he had to figure out a way to start bouncing back. What he'd done had no doubt betrayed a LOT of Vritra's faith in him, sure, and as much as he would have rather worked little by little to get back to where he had once been with him, Tai felt like they just didn't have that time anymore. Before, they only had to worry about themselves and their… own little problem, not to mention Chad's safety as well as the safety of innocent civilians. NOW however, the stakes were much higher and there was much more to lose, which meant that he couldn't afford to be as lax as he had been for the last 2 years.

He needed something, ANYTHING that could help him regain Vritra's trust quickly. It didn't even have to be the same amount of trust as before, Tai'd take a percentage below that honestly. Furthermore, that battle had taught him that he had MUCH more to learn about Vritra's abilities, abilities which Tai now had learned he'd barely tapped into since ideas had begun forming in his mind, ideas which all required for him to start mending his bond with the Evil Dragon as quickly as possible. He may have managed to 'sow the seeds' for some extra help back with Division 2, but in the end the only one he could truly trust to get things done was himself… and Vritra too, since he was just as important to this situation.

So how.. how could he…?

Wait a minute...

Whilst doing his exercising and reflecting on what he had done wrong, something popped into Tai's head, something which could backfire HORRIBLY on him if it were to fail. The moment that he had thought of this idea, a shudder ran down his spine with all sorts of thoughts about horrible scenarios filling his mind. The thing was, if it on the off chance DID work, then perhaps this fight could end up less painful for the both of them. Plus, what other choice did he have? With things escalating as they were, he feared that if he didn't take this risk then he'd be left in the dust, with death following shortly afterwards in his attempts to catch up to the others.

As such, Tai paused in his pushups, gazing down at the ground for a few seconds before inhaling and exhaling deeply. 'Hey, Vritra… is there anything that I can do? To get stronger, and to earn back your trust, I mean…' he asked the Evil Dragon whilst making sure to carefully choose his words. After all, a lot rode on this conversation, so he couldn't afford to accidentally say the wrong thing and make things worse for them both.

**[...What do you mean?]**

The cautious answer that came back to him nearly made Tai shudder and break out into a cold sweat, since that tone implied that just as he had suspected the wrong move would prove even more fatal. Perhaps this was his arrogance as a human taking control here, and if it was then he'd not deny it before his companion. 'I mean…Well, with that defeat, I've learned that we REALLY need to get stronger, since there's now someone else who is much more powerful than us. Most of our other tricks wouldn't have had much effect on him if he could call that power out whenever he wanted… something which I'm not so sure that he can do actually, now that I think about it. You saw, didn't you? Just before he 'switched' he looked like he had begun having a mental breakdown, plus during the fight I noticed that his movements seem quite sluggish… like he was under some drugs. I'd know those movements anywhere, having seen them a few times in the past.'

**[Still, that does not make him any less of a threat, and if he cannot call that power on his own will that makes things even more dangerous, not just for us but for our surroundings. Whilst I could care less about everyone else, you must stay alive so that I can survivre myself. That's the only thing I can prioritize at the moment.]**

'Not true, there's something else you value: your pride.'

**[?!]**

Sensing the shock that his partner expressed, Tai decided to elaborate. 'You may not show it as much as you used to, but you share the common trait of being very prideful of your abilities… and as much as you're angry at me for nearly getting us killed especially when we've been so cautious up till now, what I feel like you're even MORE upset about is the insult that guy made to you. Calling you a snake, when you're really something much higher than that.' If one were to look into how the eastern culture viewed dragons, they would find that they were seen as water gods who brought prosperity, as well as symbols of pride, courage and honor: the epitome of yang energy, as oppose as how western folk see them as bringers of chaos and disaster. Both were two sides of the same coin if one asked Tai himself though, but that guy he'd lost to, Golden Sun, had the nerve to call Vritra a snake. Something associated with deceit and evil… though in reality, in most of the legends surrounding it Vritra wasn't really that evil to begin with.

Taking up all the world's waters? Companies do the same but with resources.

Try to kill a God? Did that as that was his purpose in that Legend, same concept applies to revenge stories everywhere.

Hence, combined with how much he went on about the 'pride of a dragon' and all that stuff, resulted in why Tai believed that Vritra wanted to rip Golden Sun apart, even more so than himself.

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**[...Ugh, this is why I hate you humans, you use your silver tongues to get straight to what you want.]**

After a moment of silence between them where Tai feared the worst had happened, the male mentally prepared to have the feeling of his heart being constricted even tighter as a result of his arrogance. Humans have always been this way, though it didn't help the tension which filled his very being as he struggled to keep a calm demeanor on the outside… although, perhaps that would have been a foolish bit of effort from the start since Vritra likely could see what he felt deep inside.

Finally, however, his fears dumbed down when the mentioned Evil Dragon spoke the words that he did with a long sigh escaping him afterwards, although there was no malice behind it. If anything, there was a sense of being impressed instead, impressed by the gall that his host apparently had as well as his insight into the nature of dragons. Tai wasn't foolish enough to assume that he didn't hate humans though, he himself wasn't too fond of his own race either, so he couldn't really blame the Evil Dragon.

Nevertheless, when he heard this, Tai felt a surge of relief explode within his chest despite there not being any feelings of the Synchro Rate being affected just yet. The restriction he felt over his heart still remained the same as they had been for the last few days, confirming to him that this would NOT mean he was out of the woods just yet. Dragons DID hold grudges after all. Still, Tai couldn't help but chuckle weakly, knowing that he had just dodged a risky, downright lethal, bullet. 'Well, you got me there, Vritra. I can't help it though, I do have a strong fondness for Dragons, though.' he replied, a one-sided smirk present on his lips. 'By the way, do you know anything else about that Guy's situation? We need to know as much as we can about the enemy, knowledge is power after all.'

**[Unfortunately, I cannot remember at the moment, it will take me some time to recall since its been a long while since I encountered something like that. Something which gave me both chills and the urge to kill so intensely. This does NOT mean you're ready for a rematch with him, far from it. If at all, until you are ready to face him, we should do our best to avoid fighting him as much as possible. Still… as much as I want to leave you to rot for such an idiotic defeat on your part, there is still indeed merit to what you say. That guy behaved like a God back there, and we beasts despise Gods for many reasons, this here is just an example of one of them. Thus, whilst I am cautious about it, nothing would make me happier than to utterly wipe that arrogant grin off his face… very well, I know of a few things that I can do to help out.]**

'Really?' Tai questioned as he stopped his pushups, standing upright in order to take a small break, all before he would finish up his training regimen for the day. However, what he did NOT expect was for the full on rant that Vritra went on.

**[But DON'T think that this means the grudge will be settled, boy. There will be ZERO tip-toeing around this: You have a LONG road ahead of you if you want my forgiveness, one with no shortcuts or holes to no mistake I will GRIND the current you into the very GROUND by the time that this is over, and you inevitably end up facing that brat again. You'll be evolving EVERYTHING you have: your weapon creation, your Purgatory flame manipulation, your armed and unarmed martial prowess, I will overhaul EVERYTHING you currently possess… in order to make you not a pathetic WIMP of a wielder!]**

The way that the Evil Dragon went on like this, as if he had been waiting for this very moment in time, almost stunned Tai into silence and disbelief, yet the weight of those words as well as the ominous pressure pertaining to the torture that he would be enduring in the immediate future kept him from being so. Instead of shaking like a leaf would in the wind, Tai simply let out a grin of eagerness, his own excitement over increasing in strength under his partner's tutelage filling his being. 'Heh, I'll not let you down then, Vritra.' he declared… before noticing something odd that drew his attention. 'Huh?'

Vaguely, he noticed something on his back when he glanced at it through his mirror which stood not too far away from him. Something which he didn't notice before, and even now it didn't seem very visible, but right now he could see it on his back: a vague outline of something on his back which seemed to expand across almost all of it. Kind of like a tattoo… it's shape being VERY reminiscent of a Dragon.

'This is…'

**[Hmph, although you were only there for a brief moment, it seems to have been enough for it to barely form. That there, boy, is the mark of using My Synchrogear. All users of one, the closer they get to their beasts, will slowly develop a tattoo over their backs, one which will signify their bond when they eventually reach 100% Synchro Rate: also known as a 'Balance Maker'. Once you reach that state, it will be complete, and will briefly glow before you transform into your Synchro Jacket… or THAT, which you can't access yet.]**

Now THIS was news to him, so the more he increased the Synchro Rate, the more filled in this apparent Tattoo on his back would become, and when he had reached 100% of it (although Vritra never said that 100% was the limit, the boy noticed), the tattoo would be filled completely. Well, THIS definitely gave him an incentive, the boy mentally mused with his grin widening into an almost shark-like one, a similar look of excitement forming behind his glasses-covered grey eyes.

One thing whichTai was also a fan of, was Tattoos, especially the bigger picture surrounding them. To the common person, a Tattoo may look like something that's just drawn onto someone's body to look cool or impress potential partners, but just like the world of flowers Tattoos also have their own language, their own meanings, with the places that they are put on also having such meaning. Dragon Tattoos have had a more specialized meaning in Tai's life, and he had always wanted to have one drawn onto his back, as a way to showcase him putting something shameful behind him. This defeat definitely qualified as such, but until it was completely filled, Tai would have to suck it up and learn from this experience, as well as endure whatever hellish training Vritra had in store for him…

Boy, he couldn't wait to get started.

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**Chapter end**

**New chapter out, next one won't be out for a while. Want to focus on my other stories.**

**For those who complain about yuri and stuff... at least have some decent stories to back your arguments, or at least suggest ways to improve the story. **

**For those who liked, thank you and please let me know what you think, and how to improve the story.**

**Look forward to the next chap. **

**Peace Out.**


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